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ETHEL ERNESTINE 





ETHEL 

ERNESTINE 


By 

Hattie Bassett 




Hattie Bassett, Publisher 
116 West Vine Street 
Walnut Ridge, Arkansas 


7 ) 


4 


Copyrigi ned 
By Hattie Bassett 

(All Rights Reserved) 



MEMPHIS LINOTYPE PRINTING CO. 


SEP 23 *24 

©C1A801960 




DEDICATION 


To the Glory of the One 
* * In Whom We Live, Move, 
and Have Our Being/ ' 





PREFACE 


This volume contains a newly-told 
story of the subject that never grows 
old—Love. Its mechanism is unique 
and its thread of love and healing, 
closely twisted, is unbroken. The au¬ 
thor has striven to express infinite 
Good—minus 11 evil communication * ’ 
and corrupt manners. The good ex¬ 
hibited in so-called fiction is possible 
in metaphysics, and when it is lived, 
as it most assuredly will be before the 
millenium, it will indeed be a “ heaven 
of rest. ’ ’ In writing a story without a 
villain the author endeavors to give 
much toward leavening mortal 
thought. To cling to this idea stead¬ 
fastly diminishes the length to the 
classification of medium short stories, 
yet the characteristic of saying the 
most in the fewest words is main¬ 
tained. 


Hattie Bassett 







«• 



























































* 

























-* 










ETHEL ERNESTINE 


Chapter I 

The scholastic year had just closed. Commencement 
at the University was past and Ethel Ernestine had re¬ 
turned from school to her humble home in a progressive 
hamlet in northern Texas. She was a semi-orphan in 
her latter teens, preparing to help keep the wolf from 
the door of the family, the mother of whom kept the 
needle and the shuttle busily plying regardless of her 
declining age. In reality, so far as her strength was 
concerned, there is nothing in age; her strength was 
neither old nor young, for it came from above. 

Miss Ernestine’s scholarship was now beyond a com¬ 
mon school education and she made excellent marks of 
distinction for the past few years. Among her literary 
attainments was her specialization in expression, which 
seemed at that time to be her natural bent. Shortly 
after her return, catarrh of the head and throat devel¬ 
oped with her, the treatment of which incurred a very 
great additional expense. According to the laws of ma¬ 
teria medica she was forced to exercise the utmost care 
and caution, also exceedingly close management and sheer 
economy in other matters on .an already meager salary, 
which circumstances prevented her further attendance 
in school. 

She organized and maintained a large expression class 
for some three or four years. Iu the meantime, the two 
brothers, younger than herself, had grown into 'man¬ 
hood and were qualified to earn more than their sup¬ 
port, therefore her salary was no longer necessary to 


—7- 



Ethel Ernestine 

the family’s existence. With her current receipts she 
went to Galveston, Texas, to secure a more modern 
treatment of the catarrh, and, thinking the gulf breeze 
would perhaps be advantageous, she sought recuperation. 

She selected a private boarding house in which she 
resided for several months. The proprietress, Mrs. 
Brantley, a tall, elegant character, both cheerful and 
attractive, graciously introduced the new-comer to her 
accustomed guests. Among these favorite guests were a 
young lady stenographer and a number of salaried 
young men, one of whom was an internal revenue of¬ 
ficer who occasionally paid his special respects to Miss 
Ernestine. All who knew her encouraged her company 
because she seemed always possessed of a jaunty spirit 
as well as appearance, was pleasantly conversive at the 
table, their general hall of recreation, and congenially 
instructive in the drawing room. If she lingered for a 
little pastime she cleverly participated in the general 
chats of the crowd. She fostered a fair knowledge of the 
uppermost questions of the day and discussed them with 
delightful interest in pure, convincing remarks. The 
young men discerned in Miss Ernestine’s active frame 
of mind that she was determined never to try to lift 
one person up by dragging another one down, and that 
such a procedure would neither benefit herself nor 
either one of those in topic. They also recognized her 
polished judgment and often told her their secrets, 
asking advice concerning their beauships as if her opin¬ 
ions were a mental “Balm of Gilead.” 

Miss Ernestine’s stay could not be prolonged. With 
the regrets of her many friends in the city she returned 
home. Her accomplishments and departure were the 
subject of comment at Mrs. Brantley’s. The hostess 
manifested remarkable energy in business, and cheery 
entertainment for her friends. It was through her tact 


Ethel Ernestine 


that Mr. Paul Patrick, the revenue official, and Miss 
Ethel Ernestine were given a chance of becoming en¬ 
deared—nor did they refuse the chance. During the 
latter’s delay he had studied her being from every 
standpoint of character that he knew, and after her 
leave he missed her association more than he was willing 
to confess. 

Within three days Mr. Patrick received his usual reg¬ 
ular orders from Washington, D. C., to do duties at 
another shipping point. He spent some months more in 
the service of the government, after which he resigned 
to enter the occupation of a planter in Nashville, his 
former home, a desirable place in which he contemplated 
making his permanent abode. His social hours were 
spent with Miss Jean Justus, with whom, according to 
rumor, he had experienced, for a long time, a mutual 
obligation, for future companionship. He was very 
prosperous in business, but to carnal mind manifested 
an increasingly restless temperament. Notwithstanding 
the long acquaintance with Miss Justus since early 
childhood, Mr. Patrick felt a discordant difference wid¬ 
ening the already false expanse of personal admiration. 
On the other hand, he concealed in every respect a senti¬ 
ment in which he felt an indescribable tenderness be¬ 
tween himself and another, for whom he had a stronger 
longing to see—an aspiration unchangeably seeded in 
his consciousness. 

This model of adoration was not the home girl, his 
familiar every-day friends, relatives, or his so-called 
business affairs. Forests, fields, streams, mountains, 
railroads, cities, and other features of the physical uni- 
verso separated their temporal bodies, but not their 
thoughts, for thoughts issue from an infinite Intelligence, 
rendering them inseparable, and yet, Mr. Patrick was 
not concerned. He knew not whether she was still on 


—9— 


Ethel Ernestine 


this plane of life, or had passed to the next one. At 
times he wished to see her, but again and again in his 
permitted reveries, he burned his own letters before his 
sercetary could mail them. He even cancelled the 
orders he sometimes gave for a long distance call. By 
and by he took a vacation and had planned to spend a 
part of it in a casual visit in Texas. While packing his 
traveling cases for the journey a card came from a gen¬ 
tleman friend in Galveston. This friend accidentally 
(providentially) mentioned Miss Ernestine’s being in a 
Virginia resort, Mrs. Brantley informed them. It was 
very indefinite news although Mr. Patrick boarded the 
next train for Virginia. He knew not where, or for 
what, the thirty days would be spent. 


Chapter II 

In Virginia at some mineral wells there was a quiet, 
quaint, and restful little village which operated the 
modern conveniences of a small city. A certain hotel 
here was famous for its cultured guests. Paul Patrick 
unhesitatingly registered, hoping apparently to spend 
hours of quietude and rest. 

Many guests assembled in the parlor awaiting the 
dinner announcement. There was a general introduc¬ 
tion and all was gaiety. At this meeting this young 
couple who star in this story greeted each other cheer¬ 
fully and cordially but with seemingly no more and 
no different interest than if they had been mere ac¬ 
quaintances. After a reminiscence of their pleasures 
at the Brantley home there seemed to be little fascina¬ 
tion for Mr. Patrick, also business reasons seemed to 


— 10 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

detract from his interest and his visit at the resort was 
short. 

By the first of the next month we find our distin¬ 
guished story stars miles and miles apart. Mr. Patrick 
returned to his office and Miss Ernestine to depart¬ 
mental work in western Oklahoma. To the former’s 
unanticipated pleasure he learned that cards were out 
announcing the marriage of Miss Jean Justus to a for¬ 
eigner. After a time he hoped to establish communi¬ 
cation with Miss Ernestine. Therefore, he wrote the 
following letter and enclosed the said announcement in 
order to substantiate the said fact, as he thought it 
necessarily should be proven: 

“My dear Miss Ernestine: 

My enjoyment possesses the most exceeding felicity 
that has come to my memory for many years, perhaps 
the most decided of all my years, a real enjoyment in 
which I am making a desperate effort to assure you 
that the friendship between Miss Justus and myself 
was not a serious one. I am refusing to entertain any 
doubt in my mind that your consideration, regardless 
of what it has been in the past, will be freed from 
the difficulty which no doubt uninvitingly mars my 
happiness. I am anxious to give you this information 
again, even if our association were to remain closed, be¬ 
cause your motives are far greater than appreciable; 
you are truthful to a fault—if it could be so. Your 
superiority overshadows me. Ethel, you called the ex¬ 
pressions of my sublimest convictions blandishments, 
and ignored them, but I would that we might experience 
and sustain an affection for each other equal to the one 
you imagined existed between me and some one else. 
I can’t multiply meaningless words. May I hear from 
you soon?” “Yours most sincerely,” “Paul.” 


—li— 


Ethel Ernestine 

Ethel Ernestine did things promptly, if she did them 
at all, so in a few days the postman brought Mr. Patrick 
a reply but not the comfort that his self-confidence ex¬ 
pected. It read as follows: 

“Dear Mr. Patrick: 

The announcement and your letter are received. I 
feel no censure from your letter and it is certainly not 
my intention to return the smallest degree of reproof. 
The best consideration for us both is that the questions 
referred to in your letter remain dead and our ac¬ 
quaintance dormant. Such a consideration should be 
an easy matter for us both. My imagination was stim¬ 
ulated by your acknowledgment in Galveston. At one 
time Miss Justus’s regard for you was sought and en¬ 
couraged. No one has appointed me judge of the se¬ 
riousness therein; therefore, my judgment is, at least, 
suspended. The ancient Medes and Persians are still 
commended for their inclination to execute promises. 
This thought of commendation could apply to your 
promises as well. I had no legal or moral right to 
usurp the slightest hymeneal interest in you, even if 
our courtship surpassed the one in question; it was my 
duty to make the sacrifice, and my capability to perform 
my duty, x when I know clearly what it is. In fact, it is 
not a sacrifice but a celestial privilege. It also becomes 
our duty to let our pleasures and displeasures be as 
they are now—uncovered and unkept. Please do not 
expect me to write you again, and do me the honor of 
not writing to me.” “Most respectfully,” 

“Ethel Ernestine.” 

From the contiguity of long erroneous custom when a 
particular state of matrimony is reached, the usual 
young man “tests” (?) the so-called love of his best 


—12—• 


Ethel Ernestine 

girl to see if she is “true” (?). Mr. Patrick prior to 
his letter, and besides his indications of fickle-minded- 
ness, had chosen the method of neglect, that is, there 
was no sharing of joys or of sorrows, but to the seeming 
unchangeable mentality of Miss Ernestine there exists 
no human love, and true affection is not a “testor”. 
The d(evil) and his angels “test” human beings, but 
divine Love never “tests” (?) His image and likeness, 
and the love that exists between people is the reflection 
of the highest Love there is. She was looking for the 
unusual man who accomplished results by the best 
means, and their communication ceased. When Pat¬ 
rick’s efforts to hear from her again failed, he might, 
in the sense of searching, become the second “Gabriel 
Laganesse” and we might add, in pursuit of the second 
“Evangeline.” 

He wrote her the most touching letters but they were 
returned to him unopened. She had declined her posi¬ 
tion and he could not ascertain her address. He then 
visited her brother in Wisconsin and her sister in Flor¬ 
ida, who were married, that he might gain their good 
will, and gather some information as to Miss Ernestine’s 
whereabouts. It added to his discomfort to learn that 
her mother had passed on during his indifference. The 
idea of his disconsolation in this time of bereavement 
only increased his mental agony. Her relatives never 
encouraged him more than to tell him that she was in a 
training school on the western coast. They said they 
knew nothing about him, or his aims. They told him 
more in these words: “Ethel has no home, and we would 
not advise her for fear our plans would disturb her 
unnecessarily. She has handled a great many respon¬ 
sibilities since we married and if we had the opportun¬ 
ity we would make her burdens lighter instead of 
heavier.” They laughingly remarked that: “The world 


—13— 


Ethel Ernestine 

might call her a disappointed old maid, but there are 
worse conditions than that, and the world's accusations 
had never harmed her, and she would never undergo 
slanderous and domestic troubles as long as she stayed 
single. ” 

Back to Nashville Patrick went. His father had told 
him repeatedly, early in life, never to marry a jealous 
woman; but the father saw no necessity of telling his 
son never to give occasion for jealousy. As learned and 
gentle as Miss Ernestine was he knew that she was en¬ 
dowed with a keen discernment and a firm demand. 
Still, Mr. Patrick confided his disrepose to his mother 
and his sister, both of whom favored his suggestion of 
taking a western trip. 

The training school received a new caller. Mr. Pat¬ 
rick sent the president his card requesting a private 
interview. The interview was short. This student mer¬ 
ited a degree in the last term and sailed for Cuba as 
governess, in a small family, on a big plantation. Pat¬ 
rick could do nothing but return home. He now had 
less definite knowedge of Ethel than he had had since 
their first meeting. This was almost unbearable; he 
could not go so far from home again on account of his 
mother's age and her treacherous heart trouble. For 
several months he watched the ebb of life. The end of 
her mortal existence came, and without a human soul 
upon whom to lean for comfort, save relatives whose 
sympathies were with immediate families, Paul Patrick 
became parentless. Compensation, whether great or 
small, is the harvested product of our sowing, but he 
dismissed such thoughts from his mind by knowing that 
we select our own associates and he had not been as 
careful as he might have been. He did not know that in 
spiritual thinking divine Intelligence gives us our as¬ 
sociations. 


—14— 


Ethel Ernestine 


Chapter III 

The Cubans hailed this juvenile genius royally. The 
means offered by Christian Science had healed Ethel 
Ernestine of many physical beliefs and ailments. She 
suffered no more from catarrh, grippe or general mus¬ 
cular debilitation. Her several years close study of the 
divine laws had given her the robustness of her buoyant 
youth and had banished every careworn evidence from 
her interesting countenance. Her manner of instruct¬ 
ing was a delightful success and her work as a Christian 
Science Practitioner was now bringing wonderful 
things (“signs following”) to pass; the Father’s busi¬ 
ness was occupying the greater part of her attention 
and making pressing demands upon her so-called time, 
but years meant nothing to her—unless, perhaps, they 
meant untold good—for she loved her work intensely 
and fervently. During her very occasional hours for 
outdoor diversion she indulged in riding, rowing or 
swumming. 

It was June. The tropical heat had kept them indoors 
all day. A party of young ladies, including Miss Ern¬ 
estine, hastened to the river where they engaged in a 
favorite pastime—swimming in the bright moonlight. 
Miss Ernestine, so far as her personal presence was 
concerned, was soon to bid the swimmers and the swim¬ 
ming pool her fond farewell. Chattering and resting 
alternated with swimming. They lingered longer than 
was customary. Time passed so rapidly that they mis¬ 
judged the hour, and, instead of dispersing, went back 
into the w r ater. A swift tide was upon them unawares. 
With some difficulty the girls near the shore swam out, 
but the governess and a chum were seen to sink. The 
unprecedented shrieks of the company on shore were 


-15— 


Ethel Ernestine 

heard at the home a mile away, and told there was 
danger. 

Meanwhile, Paul Patrick arrived at the plantation 
and was confidentially telling the manager, and a civil 
engineer, of his long search. His story was interrupted 
by the bewailing cries for help. Mr. Miles Madoc, the 
engineer, whose roadster stood ready at the gate, not 
having been garaged after the last trip, and the Amer¬ 
ican stranger within their domicile, with one impulse 
stepped into the car and hurried to the scene. 

The geographical surroundings of this particular pool 
were such that the waves remained insurmountable only 
for a few minutes. The waves of mortal mind dashed 
high, and fell hard, for Mr. Madoc was a Christian 
Scientist. He knew the powerful government of an 
almighty present Go(o)d and the powerlessness of an 
absent d(evil). 

Through the channel of his treatment divine Love 
quieted the excitement, reduced the force of the waves, 
and sent a mammoth dog into the water to search for 
the forms of the two girls. Miss Ernestine’s body had 
come to the surface and disappeared the third time. 
There were no moments for parley. Patrick could not 
swim. Madoc sprang into the water and in a few mo¬ 
ments, with his pugilistic strength, brought Rosalee Mar¬ 
cella to the shore. He left her in care of the one infinite 
supreme Being whose laws are Life, Truth and Principle, 
while he plunged into the water again in search of Miss 
Ernestine, whose body could not be felt or seen. 

He stood on the shoal for an instant waiting for the 
“still small voice” of omnipotent Mind to direct his 
course. Presently, the voice spoke in a righteous angelic 
consciousness and he heard a splash some fifty yards 
down stream. It was the big water dog, Fluno, (he was 
the namesake of an eminent lecturer) dragging the life- 


—16— 


Ethel Ernestine 

less form to the bank. The dog had fought a great bat¬ 
tle, and no one could have expressed more genuine grat¬ 
itude than his waggish capers manifested. Through his 
God-given strength, and God-given intelligence, and God- 
given love to help another being, omnipresent Mind’s 
laws were fulfilled and the dog was conscious that he 
had done a great deed, but Fluno accepted relief of his 
burden. 

Mr. Madoc placed the prostrate forms in a position 
which would allow an easy discharge of water from their 
heads, then turned to the friends near by, each one of 
whom stood watching in awe, waiting for instructions 
and prayerfully trusting that he might be able to cast 
out the d(evil). Miles Madoc’s demeanor was faultless 
poise, his tones were perfect firmness. ‘ ‘ Neighbors, ” he 
appealed, “you have seen the salvation of the Lord 
many times. This servant of Go(o)d has taught you 
who God is, and where He is; she has taught you how 
to pray and every one of you must use your highest 
understanding in your desire to restore them to activity, 
because our scripture commentator says: ‘Prayer is 
honest desire’.” To one reader he gave his pocket Bible; 
to another his “Science and Health With Key to the 
Scripture”; to another the “Scientific Statement of 
Being”; to another “The Daily Prayer”, and so on 
until all the students began to know the omnipotence 
of a loving, living God. In fortifying them for the 
work, he told them that: “There is no place better than 
this place and no time better than this time, for us to 
demonstrate the power of Truth—‘Now is the accepted 
time’. We are'going to work on this spot until we see 
the glory of divine Life—whether it is His will to leave 
us our friends, or to pass them up higher,” and he 
turned his face toward those in need. 

There was a circle of silent workers. Miles Madoc 


—17— 


Ethel Ernestine 


walked a short to-and-fro with the zeal and courage of 
an orator on the floor of the Roman senate. A part of 
his treatment was audible. He alleviated fear; he sus¬ 
tained Truth by rejecting the lie; he implanted God’s 
infinitude; he clung close to God and God’s idea; he 
held fast that which is good; he rebuked every complaint 
from the physical senses; he established in his conscious¬ 
ness the scientific sense of every drop of water; of every 
spiritual idea constituting the spiritual body; of every 
purpose entering the human mind; and banished the 
offending errors of false beliefs that there is life, truth, 
intelligence, or substance in matter. Miss Marcella sat 
up, observed the situation and began to pray. The blood 
now circulated through the practitioner’s body, and this 
group of seekers, preaching and living the gospel of*sal- 
vation, left their vanity and ingratitude at the foot of 
the cross and raised their heads in sacred humility. 
Their answer was not a surprise for they were expectant. 


Chapter IV 

Seated on a small block of timber nearby sat Paul Pat¬ 
rick, whittling all the sticks in his reach and trying to 
appreciate the devoted affection of the natives before 
him. He knew nothing of Science and all he had heard 
was uncomplimentary. Of all the things which he 
thought he hated, he erroneously thought, it must be the 
Science of Christianity. He inquired about a doctor, 
but his inquiry was entirely unheeded. In fact he knew 
in his mind that Ethel was here no longer. He could 
not claim her soul, and he should exercise no right to 
claim her body. He remembered that she believed in 


—18— 


Ethel Ernestine 

cremation and would not want her body taken far from 
where she left it. He accused and convicted himself 
for not having made her a charming governess of a hap¬ 
py home for her and himself years ago. There was noth¬ 
ing for him to do but sail on the first ship for home. 
He saw Rosalee Marcella sit up, and the rich natural 
color rush to her face. He resumed his conversation 
with the manager by saying: 4 ‘The water did not ef¬ 
fect her seriously,” 

“No,” replied the manager, “the water has not ef¬ 
fected her at all. These girls are safe. I have seen our 
engineer demonstrate Truth in numerous conditions. 
God is the real engineer that works through all of us. 
Madoc just understands it more clearly than we do. The 
knowledge of Go(o)d’s laws has done miracles for us 
and all of us here, on and near the plantation, are seek¬ 
ers of these laws, Christian Science; ” to which fact Mr. 
Patrick was mum, but his distrustful countenance pro¬ 
claimed his antagonism. 

Patrick heard a voice say: “Paul.” He instantan¬ 
eously stood straight, then thinking he mistook the sound 
he sat again and went on with his unsophisticated whit¬ 
tling. 

Miles Madoc’s thoughts were Go(o)dly thoughts that 
were not for an instant separated from divine, omnip¬ 
otent Conscience. He stepped closer to the patient, took 
hold of her shoulders, lifted her up, and she stood. He 
said: “You are well. Go(o)d is with us in His powerful 
presence and we are all blessed.” 

She started to give Madoc the credit for this beauti¬ 
ful, dutiful obedience, but he would not allow an ex¬ 
pression of error. He commanded: ‘ ‘ Give credit where 
credit is due. It is not I who has been working; ‘The 
Father works, and I work.’ Human personality shall 
not come in to rob Him of the glory. Let every one of 


—19— 


Ethel Ernestine 

us look to Him in our blessing as faithfully as we have 
in trouble, for this is the prayer that has been an¬ 
swered. ” Addressing his client for whom he plead so 
earnestly before the court of almighty Intelligence, he 
added: “These young ladies will help you with your 
clothing while I talk to a friend of yours who arrived 
from the States last evening. The stranger needs our 
fellowship and we are going to manifest what kindness 
we know to him.’ ’ 

Thus speaking, Mr. Madoc walked to the opposite side 
of the hedged inclosure to join Mr. Patrick and the men 
who came to offer their services. Approaching the men 
he asserted: “Let us be grateful that false belief could 
not drown these girls in the presence of Truth. They 
are active and rejoicing. There are some plans to be 
presented before we sever our meeting. Go(o)d is the 
source of our light and power which keeps our talents 
unburied and productive.” Putting his arm around 
Patrick, he graciously invited: “Come visit with Miss 
Ernestine while we prepare for a business meeting. 
Your name was the first word she spoke and I am sure 
she has a welcome awaiting you.” While the engineer 
was saying these words, tears filled Patrick’s eyes and 
his voice, for he wept easily under beliefs of loneliness, 
despair, sympathy, and sometimes joy. 

“A welcome,” he uttered, “I have come to take her 
home. ’ ’ 

“She always has a home—non-respecting locality. 
However, you will have to ask her about that,” warned 
his host. 

A short silence intervened, and they were in the pres¬ 
ence of the recovered governess. She quickly extended 
her hand and exclaimed softly: ‘ ‘ Paul Patrick. ’ 9 

The pursuer grasped her hand and held it with both 
of his as he rapidly told her his mission. The one thing 


Ethel Ernestine 


he wanted to know was the answer to the question: 
“Ethel, will jmu give up your work, marry me, and go 
home with me?” 

Rosalee Marcella, a most trustworthy character, held 
the governess ’ left hand—said she was Miss Ernestine’s 
maid—“I refuse to release her unless it becomes abso¬ 
lutely necessary.” 

Miles Madoc stood with his hand resting on Patrick’s 
shoulder as he seemed to half jest: “In divine Intelli¬ 
gence and among ‘peace makers’ there are no secrets. 
Anyway, I am always my guest’s valet and have a right 
to wait on him—if I don’t repeat what he says.” 

Their attention was called by Mr. Stephen, a business 
man who was much concerned about how they should 
promote the work of the Science of Christianity after 
the departure of their American friends. They formed 
a deliberate congregation and selected Mr. Stephen to 
preside. They organized a Christian Science Society, 
elected officers, adopted suitable by-laws, chose a loca¬ 
tion, voluntarily donated seventy-five per cent of the 
building fund, and appointed a building committee to 
work with the Board of Directors. This Society would 
not permit Miss Ernestine to leave it until the building 
was completed and the members were more at ease with 
the Church government. She would be their active first 
reader and president of the Board until Mr. Madoc’s 
return from his journey, and Miss Marcella, by taking 
class instruction while in the United States, would be 
able to enter into the practitioner’s work. To accom¬ 
plish these plans would require a period of several 
months. 


- 21 - 



Ethel Ernestine 


Chapter V 

Mr. Patrick remained in the meeting and listened to 
the proceedings very respectfully. He accepted their 
transactions as Miss Ernestine’s answer that she would 
not accompany him home. It was true he had resolved 
to spend the rest of his life in the vicinity, at least, in 
which she spent her life, but he now saw the imprac¬ 
ticability of his resolution and agreed to the suggestions 
of her and her associates. 

As the years had gone by her disposition had most 
assuredly undergone a great change. He could not say 
it was for the worse; he was inclined to think it was 
for the better. A consoling thought was that the new 
arrangement of affairs would give him ample time in 
which to investigate the principles of this strange new 
cult of thinking. In behalf of their Science practitioner 
he acknowledged she was decidedly better off than he 
was. She was well as she could be, as happy as she 
could be, and as busy as she could be—and he was 1 not. 

The night was spent in this grove of sparsely native 
palms; it seemed that no eye had winked for sleep; day¬ 
light was dawning; each participant of the joyful dem¬ 
onstration was brimful (mind-full) of praise and thank¬ 
fulness as the rising sun found them at their respective 
homes, and their spiritual mental feast had rendered 
them more worthy of a spiritual conception of a phys¬ 
ical (?) breakfast. 

On the second day our readers find themselves en¬ 
wrapped in the complaisancy of the affable party on 
the voyage. Mr. and Mrs. Miles Madoc were on board— 
the ceremony uniting Mr. Madoc and Miss Marcella hav¬ 
ing been officiated by a chief magistrate two hours be¬ 
fore setting sail from Havana. A magistrate was em- 


—22— 


Ethel Ernestine 

ployed because he could more consistently conform to 
the laws of the land and the wedded couple did not 
wish to make a sectarian preacher’s services essential to 
their citizenship. Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose, their son, 
their daughter, and Mr. Patrick, were members of this 
band. 

It was the Ambrose family in whose employment Miss 
Ernestine had been in Cuba, and nothing but endear¬ 
ment existed among them. Mrs. Ambrose claimed her 
governess for an adopted daughter, and in spirit she was, 
because, in the language of St. Paul they worked and 
lived in “The spirit of adoption”—adoption of fellow¬ 
ship, faith, and righteous deeds taught and practised 
by the early Christians. The Ambrose company was 
not intolerant, at all, of Mr. Patrick, but were rejoic¬ 
ing on the open deck, in Miss Ernestine’s decision to 
stay in a foreign country in preference to falling into 
the hazardous life with one steeped in the opposite 
knowledge to all that she holds worth while. What 
would a few days of apparent anguish (even if she ex¬ 
perienced any) be, compared with a lifetime disappoint¬ 
ment? To their beloved governess there is no harmony 
outside of Christian harmony. They agreed with Mr. 
Ambrose, however, that Miss Ernestine’s clear under¬ 
standing was destroying even the possibility of future 
calamities and misfortunes. They knew that their 
thoughts would help her—if they were good thoughts— 
and perhaps help Mr. Patrick, too. At any rate they 
would improve their own sense of Go(o)d’s reflection 
and take advantage of an opportunity, if one presented 
itself, to tell him some of the beauties and saving bene¬ 
fits of the Science of Christianity. 

Mr. Patrick seemed especially recipient of their kind 
interest and hospitality. During the last few hours he 
absented himself from the rest of the group and Mr. and 


—23— 


Ethel Ernestine 

Mrs. Madoc started in search for him to invite him to a 
luncheon with them. They found him in his compart¬ 
ment, a victim of what he called ‘* deathly seasick. ’ ’ Of 
course, their services were his services. He was not 
choice of the methods, any help they wanted to secure 
or apply would be acceptable. So Madoc acted as a 
practical nurse, and his bride went to their room, took 
the Bible and “Science and Health,’’ and obeyed God’s 
command in reference to healing the sick. Under the 
application of the ever-present, ever-operating, and ever- 
beneficial laws of Go(o)d Patrick became restful, slept 
a long sleep, toward the close of day he arose and 
dressed for dinner. He was well. Not only well in 
body but he was possessed with a sense of heavenly satis¬ 
faction—a peace of mind he had never known. 

At eight o’clock in the evening Paul Patrick wished 
to rejoin these new acquaintances for they were fast ap¬ 
pealing to his admiration. He found them gathered in 
a Wednesday Evening Prayer and Testimony meeting. 
These meetings belt the terrestrial globe. Every hour 
in the day we call Wednesday, by the system of longi¬ 
tude and time, some nation in some land is praying and 
acknowledging Go(o)d before men. He was cordially 
requested to spend the evening with them, to which he 
gratefully assented. After the lesson was read each one, 
from the oldest to the youngest inclusive, spoke humbly 
and fluently concerning the blessings of an exalted spirit 
that w^as unfolded to them by means of the laws of divine 
Truth. Paul Patrick observed their sincerity and 
thankfulness. He knew very little to say but he could 
certainly express his deep sense of appreciation in at 
least three instances and he spoke in the highest terms 
of his healing of seasickness, Miss Ernestine’s restora¬ 
tion, and the brotherly kindness of these devout people 
toward him and toward each other. “One needful vir- 


—24— 


Ethel Ernestine 

tue, ” he continued, '‘characteristic of the Scientists I 
have met on this trip is that they pray for one another 
instead of finding fault and backbiting. If this is true 
of all the class of people who are interested in divine 
Science their mere acquaintance is indeed helpful.’’ 


Chapter YI 

After the service Patrick and Madoc lingered on the 
deck in a conversation that extended far into the night, 
the result of which a strong mutual attachment existed 
in their consciousness. 

“Madoc, I understand nothing about the way you 
people do things, and that makes no difference, but my 
thoughts go back to Miss Ernestine tonight,” mused 
Patrick. 

“Oh! our thoughts do, too. She is doing too much 
for humanity for us not to think of her. We have men¬ 
tioned her a number of times today, because we are con¬ 
scious that her prayer is with us.” 

“I would give millions, if they were mine to give, if 
she were by my side tonight and we were experiencing 
the blissful confidence that you and your bride are,” 
said Patrick somewhat regretfully. 

“Millions of what?” inquired Madoc, “Metaphysic¬ 
ally there is nothing ours to give. All that we manifest 
in Truth is ours only in reflection—we may say ours in 
possession, but it is better to manifest wealth of spirit 
than wealth of materiality; the latter is fleeting; the 
former is individually ours throughout eternity; we 
want it first, our supply of happiness or whatever we 
need will follow.” 


— 25 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

Patrick’s mind was not off the gift. “Millions of dol¬ 
lars, acres, goods, herds—anything if it were mine. You 
may preach me a sermon on manifestation if that is 
what it takes,” he continued. 

“I wish I could preach you a sermon. To my mind a 
sermon would be an instruction that would convert your 
consciousness from theories to the teachings of an es¬ 
tablished fact,” insisted Madoc. 

“I see now that Scientists do not pray to Mrs. Eddy, 
but I have heard that the religion separates families,” 
came Mr. Patrick’s objective tone. 

“Did a Christian Scientist give you that informa¬ 
tion ? ’ ’ asked Mr. Madoc. 

“No, I have not heard the Scientists say anything until 
this trip. I had no idea that Miss Ernestine knew them 
or their faith,” answered the other. 

Miles Madoc’s mentality possessed very little respect 
for mortal mind’s suggestions. He knew that Mr. Pat¬ 
rick was a college graduate and had read various philo¬ 
sophical theories, and yet, he lacked the basis of true 
reasoning, so he tried to interest Patrick in a practical 
way. “Suppose a man wanted to know a point in law, 
would he ask a person that never studied law for help, 
and accept the answer for authority? Or if a farmer 
wanted to know a fact in agriculture would he ask a 
person entirely out of the profession, and accept the 
answer for authority ? Or if he wanted to learn a bank¬ 
ing system, would he ask a non-banker? Is that the way 
we get information?” 

To these questions Patrick shook his head agreeably 
and Mr. Madoc went on talking: “The Science of 
Christianity unites more families than it separates— 
some of them should be separated,” was his defensive 
conception of his frank expression. “Scientists are 
aware that you hear a great deal from various believers 


—26— 


Ethel Ernestine 

—great in the sense of quantity instead of quality. 
Science has brought the world to battle over the line of 
demarcation between reality and unreality. God is good, 
and all that He made is good, all that is opposite of 
good, or a good condition, is evil—the d(evil) and his 
angels. Evil is destructible, good is not. Go(o)d de¬ 
stroys d(.evil). Go(o)d’s image and likeness is the in¬ 
destructible soul of man. This soul is the reflection of 
its Giver (Creator). Soul governs man when d(evil) 
is kept out of the way. Go(o)d did not have to make 
His work over, like many consider the allegory in the 
second chapter of Genesis. He did His work well and 
permanently. Go(o)d is not a persecuting, condemn¬ 
ing Go(o)d. His nature is love. The d(evil) is the 
leader of persecution, but the d(evil) and his works 
never redeemed a human being—to redeem is not his 
mission. The works of salvation is with Go(o)d. Then 
the question arises: From what are we saved?” 

“If the Scripture teaches anything at all it teaches 
that we are saved from the opposite of good (we are 
brought away from the belief in matter to the belief in 
Spirit) and have no other Go(o)d before us. Go(o)d is 
a reality because it is everlasting. The so-called opposite 
of good is not a reality because it is destructible. It has 
no power except what mortals are willing to give it, and 
the mortal giving is the evil power—‘ enmity against 
God,’ Good. The task of living a Christian requires 
great effort. The Bible does not say that with a little 
bit of effort we shall enter the ‘ straight and narrow 
way’ measured by the standard set up in those three 
chapters constituting the ‘Sermon on the Mount.’ But 
the Bible does say that ‘we shall love and serve the 
Lord with all our heart, with all our soul.’ To live a 
Christian will not be quite so hard when the majority 


—27— 


Ethel Ernestine 

of people try not to offend, or accuse, or condemn. This 
same Principle holds good in civil law. ” 

“Those people who give offense come under civil law 
for correction. Many people disobey the civil law as 
unreluctantly as they do the divine law, and many relig¬ 
ious people, if they had their way, would strike out the 
first amendment to our ‘National Constitution.’ Do you 
recall its contents?” 

“I once knew the Constitution, but I do not recall its 
religious phases other than the freedom of believing what 
we like, ’ ’ answered Patrick. 

“It is that freedom that many would like to annul,” 
and, taking a pamphlet from his pocket he read: 
“ ‘Amendment. Article I. Congress shall make no law 
respecting an establishment of religions, or prohibiting 
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of 
speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peace¬ 
ably to assemble, and to petition the government for a 
redress of grievances.’ Nevertheless, we have a more 
wonderful statute than this in the promises that God’s 
government can not be overthrown.” 

“I thank you for your time and explanation, ” said Mr. 
Patrick. “You must tell me something more before we 
reach our land. You have known Miss Ernestine more 
recently than I have. Perhaps you understand the in¬ 
comparable difference that T feel existing between her 
thoughts and mine.” 

“In reality there is no difference at all. Go(o)d 
governs our human (?) affairs. Our purposes must be 
consistent with the highest Intelligence and in this re¬ 
spect we gain the sense of likeness; only the mortal 
sense seems different. The purposes in the lives of 
young people and non-Scientists are radically different 
from the purposes of Scientists and the best of matured 
judgment. Purpose is taken into account of every action 


—28— 


Ethel Ernestine 


—the quality of purpose. Nicodemus was a believer; his 
approach to Jesus at night would not have been rebuked 
if his purpose had been right; in fact, it was purpose 
that Jesus rebuked instead of the time of approach. 
This thought reverts back to reality and unreality. Miss 
Ernestine’s present purpose in life is to help eliminate 
matter—the beliefs of corporeal sense—instead of en¬ 
couraging them in their despotic control over the uni¬ 
verse, including man, and in my opinion her close as¬ 
sociates will necessarily have to learn enough to co¬ 
operate with her.” 

“I have given you the metaphysical likeness of her 
soul and your soul. The carnal difference is: she has 
proven her salvation, while yours remains to be proven. 
Her consciousness is ‘purity cleansed from the flesh,’ 
that is, her mind rejects the belief that there are two 
equal powers; it rejects the belief that d(evil) over¬ 
comes Go(o)d; it rejects the belief that the sinner may 
be saved of his sins, but the Christian is not saved from 
sickness—sick health, sick temper, sick business, and 
sick thoughts. This renewed mind is the ‘image and 
likeness’ of God that embraces the fact of Go(o)d; this 
mind embraces the knowledge that God is the only power, 
and that He is inseparable from His creation; it em¬ 
braces the knowledge that His children are His ‘image 
and likeness’ in thought, otherwise we could not say: 
‘Our Father which art in heaven, etc.’ This mental 
change is the ‘new birth’ the one Jesus meant when he 
taught we ‘must be born again.’ She has been born 
again, while you have not. The ‘new birth’ refers to 
the real man, and not to the physical (?) man. Did 
Miss Ernestine tell you the story of Dr. Rattlehead?” 

“She did not. You tell me,” insisted Mr. Patrick. 

“Jesus illustrated the condition of thought by para¬ 
bles. Miss Ernestine tells the story of Dr. Rattlehead 

—29— 


Ethel Ernestine 

to show an erroneous condition of thought in regard to 
disease; the disbelief is as applicable in any other 
trouble. ’ ’ 

“A patient lay for months lingering his life away 
under the treatment of materia medica. Dr. Adam di¬ 
rected the patient in observing the laws of disease, ad¬ 
vised the medicine, his food, and his rest under which 
the patient gradually grew worse. Dr. Rattlehead, a 
neighbor doctor, heard that the patient diagnosed his 
own case by believing a snake was in his stomach and 
paid the patient a friendly call, found the sick man low 
and relatives in distress. They thought he was dying— 
and perhaps he was. Dr. Rattlehead said to the man: 
‘Your case has not been properly diagnosed. I believe 
I can cure you’.” 

“The patient asked in a broken voice: ‘W-h-at do 
you th-ink i-s the mat-ter with me?’ ” 

“ ‘You have a snake in your stomach,’ diagnosed the 
Doctor, catering to the mind of the patient.” 

“ ‘Now, wife, I knew it. D-idn’t I te-11 you th-at was 
the trou-ble with me?’ He spoke to his wife as if he 
were deciding the case beyond doubt.” 

“ ‘Dr. Adam says he has done all he can for my hus¬ 
band so if you can do him any good we want you to do 
it,’ petitioned the wife.” 

“ ‘It will be necessary for me to go home to get a 
remedy that I happen not to have with me but I will 
be here again in about two hours to put you on the 
mend,’ explained Dr. Rattlehead.” 

“On the appointed time Dr. Rattlehead arrived. ‘I 
prefer to nurse the man a while by myself, in order to 
keep him quiet and to watch the effects of my medicine. 
The family is dismissed to rest until you are needed,’ 
advised the Doctor and they obeyed his commands. ’ ’ 

“The Doctor gave the patient a medicine that pro- 


—30— 


Ethel Ernestine 

duced violent vomiting and while the patient was vomit¬ 
ing the Doctor slipped, from a can concealed in his 
pocket, a small snake into the vessel of vomit. When 
the patient was at ease the Doctor said: ‘ There is yonr 
snake. You have vomited it up’.” 

“The patient saw the snake and told them he felt 
better. He began to mend and was soon normal and at 
hard work. This disease was objectified. If we could 
objectify all diseases they would have the same rela¬ 
tion to mortal thought which must transform its beliefs 
in evil to beliefs in good,” persisted Mr. Madoc. 

“When Ethel told me good-bye, in her calm, sweet 
manner, she made this statement: ‘The Principle that 
governs courtship should govern the course throughout 
life,’ what did she mean by that? She would have told 
me but I could not question her then, ’ ’ inquired Patrick. 

“For our patterns through life Go(o)d has given us 
a perfect model for us to attain unto even if it requires 
the whole of eternity to reach it. Miss Ernestine deals 
with models, (thoughts—not lime and water). The 
model man is the spiritual man—Go(o)d’s ‘image and 
likeness.’ The model courtship is a courtship without 
discord. And the courtliness displayed in the model 
courtship should continue and grow more genuine 
throughout the course of life. Courtship resulting in 
marriage is only the beginning of that affection which 
should become stronger as the years go by, instead of 
weaker. If discord occurs in courtship it is likely to 
occur throughout the course of life unless it is cor¬ 
rected by conversion and reformation. Thoughts that 
tend to reform in one epoch of life will bear good fruit 
in all the succeeding epochs,” recited Mr. Madoc. 

“Those are beautiful thoughts but it is the ‘straight 
and narrow way and few there be that find it,’ ” ac¬ 
knowledged Patrick. 


-31— 


Ethp;l Ernestine 


“More are finding it than once did. There are no 
grander lessons in story or in song, than those Miss 
Ernestine has taught these inhabitants,” defended the 
engineer. 

Each new phase was giving this non-Scientist food for 
thought. The stillness of the passengers on board told 
the men it was time to retire. Mrs. Madoc shrank from 
interrupting her husband because she knew he was about 
his Father’s business—the business of reflecting good. 

“Patrick, if you care to read or to investigate the 
Truth you may have my ‘Science and Health’ untiljwe 
prepare for landing,” offered Madoc. Patrick readily 
accepted the book and their parting greeting was a kind¬ 
ly “Good-night.” 


Chapter VII 

Paul Patrick was not sleepy but he went to his room 
and began to read. The book was the thing he wanted, 
although he would not ask for it because he saw that each 
Scientist owned one and often referred to it. At that 
moment if he could have been transferred to a steamer 
bound for Havana he felt certain his visit would have 
been prolonged. He found many favorable surprises 
as he read. The book could not be scanned like fiction. 
He had never heard a sermon equal to the chapter on 
“Prayer”; he had not heard a parallel discourse to the 
chapter on ‘ ‘ Atonement. ’ ’ That was as far as he read. 

“These Christian Scientists puzzle me. Immense 
churches everywhere are filled by thousands of brighter 
people than I am—there must be something to it. They 
translate most appalling scenes into sublime grandeur. 

—32— 


Ethel Ernestine 

To them there is no depth, or heighth, or ripple of either 
air or water, or color of the deep gray sea, or the clear 
blue sky, that does not contain God’s handiwork. They 
see no horribly intolerant circumstances that could not 
be overcome by ‘ever-present remedy of Go(o)d over 
d(evil).’ Then, their love for Ethel, if for nothing 
•else, is enough to reward my attachment to them the 
rest of my life, ’ ’ soliloquized the planter. 

They were soon to reach an American metropolis. Mr. 
and Mrs. Madoc would tour through eastern cities to 
Boston; the Ambrose family would join eager relatives 
and he would take a limited special to Nashville. 

The several intervening months following this event 
held in store dark, discouraging days in which Paul 
Patrick had sufficient time in which to retrace; vindi¬ 
cate, or abandon his standard of connubial ideas. His 
business was prosperous; his friends were numerous; 
his social standing was high and respectable; Miss 
Ernestine wrote letters of friendship as often as she 
promised to do; and yet, there was something lacking; 
he was not putting into life, or getting out of it a satis¬ 
faction worthy of the name. He could not write Ethel 
scientific letters (no other kind would be at all proper) 
because her spiritual discernment would recognize de¬ 
ception and ignorance regardless of how it is clothed. 
He would be honest; therefore, he went to the Science 
Reading Room to purchase ‘ ‘ Science and Health, ’ 9 think¬ 
ing that was the only book expounding the doctrine, but 
on learning that there were nine or ten collateral vol¬ 
umes he bought all of Mrs. Eddy’s writings—not so 
much that he might accede to its teachings, but that he 
might see what it is all about. This occupied amply his 
hours from business and while he was seeing what it was 
about he was becoming a Christian Scientist. 

It had been much longer than usual since he had heard 


—33— 


Ethel Ernestine 

from Cuba and for the first time he took his stenographer 
slightly into his confidence in regard to foreign letters 
for he had not dictated his communications except those 
in business. 

/‘Ethel Ernestine,” repeated his stenographer as in 
deep thought. “What do those words mean?” She 
had a quaint habit of delving into the meaning of peo¬ 
ple’s names to see what their ancient significance was. 
In her estimation those definitions were still attached 
to those names. If they were true then they are now. 
She referred to a complete dictionary at hand and read 
aloud: “ ‘Names for women. Ethel, noble; Ernestine, 
earnest,’ both noble and earnest are characteristics in¬ 
dicated by her name. ’ ’ 

“She is much endowed with those characteristics, but 
I have never known such literary attainment as that,” 
commented the planter as he dilatorily smoothed his 
wavy hair over his head with both hands. 

“I did not know it either, for words did not seem to 
have deep literal and spiritual meanings until I read 
the Science of Christianity; we may call it spiritual at¬ 
tainment instead of literary attainment,” confessed the 
young lady, disclosing a fact which he had not dis¬ 
covered, and which she seemed not ready for the public 
to know. 

However, he left his desk, stood by the dictionary that 
he might investigate for himself. He read a number of 
familiar names—many meaning good, some meaning bad. 
He turned to the names for men and read aloud his 
own name: “ ‘ Paul, little, small; Patrick, noble. ’ That 
is a singular consolation that my name and hers possess 
the same qualities. ‘Miles, soldier; Madoc, good; Am¬ 
brose, immortal; Brian, strong; Alfred, counselor;’” 
whereupon, in answer to the postman’s whistle he 


-34— 


Ethel Ernestine 

turned to the door to receive a handful of mail. It 
contained a letter from Galveston—type-addressed. 

4 ‘What does this mean?” he asked. Opening it and 
with rapid glances explained: “She has finished her 
engagement in Cuba and has located in Galveston. Why 
did she not tell me?” 

Paul Patrick sat at his desk quite a while in medita¬ 
tion trying seemingly to fathom the depths of this one 
letter. Since he and the young lady were both reading 
Science they might discuss some subjects scientifically. 
He read for his secretary’s hearing: “ ‘Paul, you will 
pardon me if I write thoughts that are uppermost on 
my mind, for I know of nothing else to write. Our 
Way shower often used comparisons to show us the way 
and you have appeared in my consciousness today by 
way of a comparing thought: Gold is the most valuable 
metal; it is the most malleable; it is attractive and beau¬ 
tiful; fire and chemicals do not destroy it; men work, 
dig, and fight for it; it may go through the most severe 
processes but it remains gold; being free from dross, all 
of gold is good gold (one quality). God called His re¬ 
flection of intelligence (His image and likeness) man— 
not the muscular man but the thinking man—the spirit¬ 
ual man. Man is the most valuable of the reflected 
powers; being capable of enduring both triumphs and 
adversities, man is the most malleable; the spiritual man 
is attractive and beautiful; fire and chemicals do not 
destroy him (the soul) ; men work, dig, and fight for 
the spiritual man (soul, right principle) ; mentally he 
may go through the most severe processes, but he remains 
soul, mind, spirit; being the image of a perfectly good 
Father (Conscience) he is a perfectly good man (Con¬ 
sciousness). This good intelligence can not be lost; it 
can not sin, or die; it can not sicken or fear; it is the 
golden soul, uncontaminated and indestructible. Do not 


—35— 


Ethel Ernestine 

answer this question to me but test your own life out 
by this frequent self-examining question: Am I gold V ” 

Hesitating as if perusing the thought he remarked: 
“That must be a treatment she has given me for I feel 
its gold effect.” 

“Well, she gave it to herself before she gave it to 
you,” replied the stenographer. 

“You are correct, her mind is forced to possess it in 
order that she might apply it to another one,” agreed 
Mr. Patrick. 

“It is a deeper thought than mere possession. It is 
the mind-quality itself. That is good understanding to 
know God is self-existent, eternal Life. That which 
could take life must itself have life, and of necessity 
must itself ultimately be Life which is more than posses¬ 
sion. The very understanding of it constitutes her 
mind,” insisted the girl. 


Chapter VIII 

In his library that evening Paul Patrick went over 
the contents of this letter with his sister, Mrs. Brian 
Alfred. She is an amicable character. Her husband 
had passed on, her children were married, and she kept 
a comfortable, congenial home for her and her brother. 
She longed for the time when Miss Ernestine could join 
their home circle, giving her the privilege of looking 
after a sister-in-law’s household comforts with the same 
harmonious attentiveness that she did for her brother. 
Miss Ernestine’s time being spent in active practice she 
had no time for homekeeping. 

Pleasurably entering into her brother’s secrets and 


Ethel Ernestine 

plans she listened as he read: “ ‘ God ’s blessings are His 
affectionate hugs and kisses. The wind and the sun¬ 
shine kiss the earth only to utilize their Go(o)d-given 
power, and their kisses are permanent infinite blessings. 
The air and the rain bless all that they benefit, in 
showers of spiritual kisses. Go(o)d’s ‘image and like¬ 
ness’ reflects a mental spiritual attitude that blesses 
everybody. These blessings coming through the channel 
of the spiritual man are divine hugs and kisses—divine 
blessings. They are the caresses of good will, brotherly 
love that all men must give and receive in the eternal 
sharing of good reciprocal thoughts. These affectionate 
hugs and kisses in forms of blessings constitute the 
zenith of His influence. Similar loving embraces leave 
my consciousness continually to bless all upon whom my 
thoughts rest, and the same feeling returns unto me 
from them. I must manifest and experience these spirit¬ 
ual blessings. They are the real caresses to me. What 
we say counts very little. Words are vain and void but 
the feeling that makes us anxious to give these spiritual 
blessings—the feeling that makes us ready to redeem a 
person by placing a check on his thinking—works versus 
words—is worth everything’.” Looking at his sister he 
waited for her comment. 

“Paul,” said Mrs. Alfred, “that is a sweet thought 
refinely expressed. Miss Ernestine lives so constantly in 
communion with God that she has to express it. Her 
strife is to know nothing but metaphysics and it should 
be the strife of all mankind. In the millenium all will 
be metaphysics,” she remarked as if she were joking a I 
the thought of such a distant future. 

He joined in her humor by saying that: “I am not 
quite readjr for the millenium.” 

Mr. Patrick and Mrs. Alfred were now trying to dem¬ 
onstrate calmly the Truth of being. Their hopeful dis- 


-37— 


Ethel Ernestine 


positions had never inclined them to worry, even when 
they felt a serious disappointment they tried to see the 
spiritual laws in operation. 

“Sis,” addressed Paul to Mrs. Alfred, for that was 
her pet name, “how would it suit you to live in Gal¬ 
veston?” 

Without waiting for an answer, he told her his rea¬ 
sons. “My clerical work will be finished soon. I am 
retiring from business and can attend to my affairs al¬ 
most as well if I were in Galveston. The coast would 
be a nice place to live. I would see Ethel at least twice 
a week at church.” This last statement was the main 
one, and he waited for her reply. 

“Paul, that plan has come into my thought, too. Our 
family ties would not hinder us. The relatives we have 
left here are settled and happy and we could come back 
as often as is necessary. If you arrange to live in Gal¬ 
veston it will suit me completely. Suit yourself first. 
You have been a real brother to me and in this case your 
welfare has the first consideration.” 

“You dear, unselfish sister,” and he drew her to him 
and thanked her with a strong coddle. 

“That is alright, Paul. No one could be more unsel¬ 
fish than you have been with me. We have many friends 
here, but we will not lose them by making more there,” 
was her encouragement. “I do not object to moving at 
all if you think she cares for you.” 

Paul thought the time had .come when his sister should 
know more about Ethel and it was no one’s duty but his 
to tell her. It was a privilege of an untiring subject. 

“Sis, our judgment must be righteous judgment and 
information. Ethel cares for everybody but not in the 
old sense of personal selfish flattery that depends on 
changeable physical feelings. My prayer is that we 
have risen above the material emotions and I am not 

—38— 


Ethel Ernestine 

seeking her attachment for me in a material sense. She 
is still young and has years of usefulness here, but I 
want to be close enough to her to keep sectarian folks 
from doping her with drugs when she fights her last 
battle. It does not make any difference at all, to Ethel’s 
spiritual growth, what others have in mind for her but 
it does make a vast difference what she has in mind 
toward them. It must be a righteous, forgiving, Christian 
mind; this is my attitude toward her. I am not demand¬ 
ing a mutual thought, or action. In the realm of right 
living the Christ idea has perfect freedom. The Ambrose 
family would come to her relief any day, but there is a 
‘wideness in God’s mercy’ that gives us an unselfish 
nearness to those we love, and I had rather help her 
than to see others do it. At present, I can not say that 
our companionship is needful. Her life is full of good, 
and our needs are already fulfilled. Prior to her knowl¬ 
edge of the Science of Christianity,'at a time when she 
needed me most, I neglected her, that is ; to all observers 
I cancelled her from my list that she might find comfort 
where she could. That will never happen again on my 
part. She never harbored or practised the slightest 
tinge of resentment, or revenge, but one of her limita¬ 
tions is, to mortal sense, that she don’t get over injuries 
as fast as they come. She has been escorted by as ex¬ 
cellent beaux as a girl ever tried to entertain and she 
never quarreled with one in her life. She quits rather 
than quarrel.” 

“Can you not see that Go(o)d was governing you 
both, and your affairs ? Tell me why you did not bring 
her home from the Islands?” persuaded the sister, 
kindly. 

The brother continued: “The only peace of mind I 
have is that Go(o)d was in it all, and ruling. Provi¬ 
dence looks after its own and no wrong can invade the 


—39— 


Ethel Ernestine 

channel of right. In the Islands she knew too much 
divine Principle to come. She promised to come home 
when the Cubans could work independently, and she 
kept her promise. She has always known the difference 
in love and a make-believe love—I didn’t; she knew the 
difference in spirituality and sensuality—I didn’t. She 
seemingly never had to overcome those d (evils) but she 
is doing much to destroy them in all mankind. Across 
the Gulf I knew no Science; I could not believe my eyes; 
the lies other people told about Science caused my im¬ 
petuosity and I was easily put off. Sis, I can’t leave 
the impression that Ethel has been engaged to me for 
all these years. She has never been engaged to anybody. 
She believes in long acquaintances, rather than long en¬ 
gagements. She believes that when people agree to be¬ 
come married the next thing they should do is to hear 
the civil ceremony. I don’t dispute her correctness, and 
I haven’t any grounds in the world that anyone else 
can even write her a sweetheart letter.” 

“Paul, you know I think she and you are ideals but 
since you have told me all these good qualities I want 
to understand another question. Is she the girl you 
once told me was jealous?” 

“Yes, she is the one. I am glad you reminded me of 
that. A part of the jealousy of which I accused her 
was her conviction of the right Principle. Of the other 
part she has been healed. ‘Whatever blesses one blesses 
all.’ Her healing of that came with a healing of mine. 
When 1 was healed of what the world calls promiscuous 
courting, the jealousy disappeared from her mentality. 
Ethel is over-modest—due partly to her innocent rear¬ 
ing. No, I cannot say it was over-modesty; the perfect 
child cannot be over in anything, but the lack of some¬ 
thing in the imperfect child gives trouble; it might have 
been the lack of modesty, or something else, in me that 


Ethel Ernestine 

made me misunderstand her. She performs miracles 
every day; her work on the Islands is wonderful; she 
taught Miles Madoc more than his class teacher taught 
him, and yet you would know nothing of it from her. 
She claims no credit for anything. Her left hand knows 
nothing of what her right hand does. I am leaving to¬ 
morrow evening to answer this letter in person and will 
see about the moving—will let you hear later when to 
expect me.” 


Chapter IX 

Miss Ernestine lived in the leading hotel and officed 
in a suite of rooms in a building within a short distance. 
Mr. Patrick arrived in the city, registered at the same 
hotel during her afternoon office hours. To mortal 
sense she experienced a strenuous week—some stubborn 
cases—and had not been to bed for four successive 
nights. To spiritual sense and to her real self she expe¬ 
rienced nothing but glorious victories for Go(o)d. Prom 
his call her phone rang a number of times without a 
response, for she had an errand in the city. It was late 
in the evening when Mr. Patrick succeeded in making a 
date. He felt as if he must see her, if only for a few 
minutes. His coming was a merry surprise to her and 
she met him immediately in the parlor. He had never 
seen her so 'winsome and attractive; he knew her win¬ 
someness was the reflection of Spirit, for she spent no 
extra time in improving her personal appearance; more¬ 
over, she thought that mortal mind made dress one of 
the false gods of the lower world. 

She gave account of herself and asked him courteously 
concerning himself and Mrs. Alfred. Paul drew his 


—41— 


Ethel Ernestine 


chair close to her in order to gaze on her countenance, 
as if it would supply him with a mental feast. 

“Ethel," he began, “I am in no special hurry to¬ 
night, for I shall be in the city several days, perhaps, 
but your time, I see, is precious. Your help may be 
demanded any minute, so for this time let us be busi¬ 
ness-like, then if you can spare me more time, all right; 
if not, all right." 

“Business suits me exactly. And it shall be the Fa¬ 
ther’s business—the business of reflecting Go(o)d. Will 
you agree?" added the practitioner. 

“Most heartily. I want no other reflection," he as¬ 
sented. 

“Mr. Patrick—" 

“Ethel," he interrupted, repeating the words, “ ‘Mr. 
Patrick’ sounds terribly cold and stiff for a desirable 
climate like this. Can we discard enough formality to¬ 
night to be ‘Ethel’ and ‘Paul’?" 

“Propriety is a fine virtue. It is a spiritual quality, 
so let us be governed by the rules of propriety. Can 
we, as infinite models of idea, discard enough propriety 
to be ‘Ethel’ and ‘Paul’ ’’ she reasoned. 

“Propriety is important. However, it might depend 
on conditions. In this case it depends on our mutual 
esteem. The rules of propriety cannot be disobeyed in 
public or in private, yet it seems to me that we can 
express more love by saying Ethel and Paul—at times 
when I have come for that expression. Then the ques¬ 
tion arises, how much love is it proper for us to ex¬ 
press ? ’ ’ 

“The ‘how much’ of an absolute abstract subject is 
immeasurable because it is infinite, then the proposition 
is: Can we better express the infinite by the use of the 
Christian name than by the surname?" she enjoined. 

—42— 


Ethel Ernestine 

“I am afraid we are forced to leave that problem 
unsolved and adopt the Christian names for tonight, 
as terms of endearment for my epigrammatic love to¬ 
ward you that prompts me to disregard time, distance 
and money to get to see you. Please permit me to as¬ 
sume all the inconsistencies and consider that propriety 
cannot bar those genteel terms appropriately used in 
your specific dignity. Tell me what you started to say 
—or we may be side-tracked from the more essential 
business,” was his gentle reminder. 

“Paul” (he smiled deeper at her obedience to his 
wishes), “may I tell you something first—and per¬ 
chance I shall want to tell you something last—that will 
be a woman having the first and last words, as she is 
often temporally accused.” 

“Tell me anything you like. Remember that it must 
reflect good. Go on; I am listening,” he urged. 

“This is good and I hope you will deem it good. I 
am going to plead with you to pay me a great compli¬ 
ment tomorrow.” 

“ ‘Tomorrow.’ Why do you ask me to wait till to¬ 
morrow?” interrupted Paul. 

“It can’t be done until tomorrow, and you said you 
would not hurry tonight,” she smilingly demanded. 

“I’ll be good and keep my promise. Tell me your 
scheme. ’ ’ 

“Oh, you are making me feel awkward about it, but 
my scheme is that you attend church tomorrow—some 
church, I shall not designate which one.” 

“I fail to see your awkwardness. Give me your rea¬ 
sons. ’ ’ 

“My reasons are good, too,” she replied. “It really 
does mean a great deal to me at this particular time. 
Unfortunately we have in the church a woman who has 


Ethel Ernestine 

disobeyed the desires of the members by allowing a cer¬ 
tain disreputable human to become her regular escort. 
The affair has brought untold, and untellable, slander¬ 
ous criticism upon the church and its members. The 
man in the case never attends any church. If he had 
had even a moral understanding of respect for the 
woman—say nothing to the dishonest thought in his 
own self-righteousness—he would have resisted the 
temptation to seek her company in order to protect her 
reputation. He would have endured all sorts of humil¬ 
iation rather than see her become a disfavored subject. 
However that may be, his selfish plan was to raise him¬ 
self in the eyes of the people by courting her (pretend¬ 
ing not to know that such a procedure would lower her 
in public opinion’s estimation), rather than the restitu¬ 
tion of his own character first. The practice of this 
viciousness is common, but it is far from Christian. If 
there were a state of total depravity, he would class in 
that state. I am not the judge, nevertheless the fruit a 
tree bears is the manifestation of the tree. The way in 
the Science of Christianity is to cling to Go(o)d and 
His idea, condemning to death the belief in matter— 
d(evil), not the so-called victim.” 

“There are many reasons why it behooves Christians 
.to be sincerely careful. There is a sentiment here that 
a person is better off spiritually if he attends some 
church than if he attends none, regardless of what the 
one church may be. I shall cherish your going as a 
royal, princely compliment to me, if for nothing else. 
Have I made this plain enough for you to see my rea¬ 
sons?” 

“Ethel, it is my turn to feel awkward, and I hope to 
overcome that feeling as readily as you did. I have 
been a regular attendant at the Science Church since I 


—44— 


Ethel Ernestine 


left you in Cuba. Those Scientists helped me while we 
were on the water. I am going with you to church. 
My going to church is a compliment to myself if it com¬ 
pliments anybody. I accept your reason, though. It 
does reflect good. I did not tell you of my going to 
church because I wanted my actions to speak/ ’ continued 
Paul, as he took a “Science and Health/’ showing its 
much use, from his pocket. “My sister attends with 
me. You would not believe if I were to tell you how 
assiduously and persistently we have studied, but it is 
pleasurable beyond any measure of comparison; we 
revel in the thought that the plan of redemption is re¬ 
vealed in the world.” 

“You agreed to stay on the good line. If you think 
Go(o)d can’t be believed you are malpractising. The 
‘still small voice’ told me many times that you are an 
interested reader, but not the church-going part. Do 
you suppose you could have told me anything which 
would have rejoiced me more?” she asked. 

“I suppose not. To me it involves all the difficulties 
between me and salvation and all the difficulties be¬ 
tween me and you. I do not mean my mere attendance. 
I mean my acceptance of Christianity. I could not be 
a regular listener to a faith that I could not sanction. 
I have enlisted to help lessen sin according to my under¬ 
standing. This is Go(o)d’s business and you can help 
me clear some of it tonight.” His listener started to 
say something, but he waved his hand, placed it on the 
arm of her rocker, promptly demanding: “Wait a 
minute. We are not going to scold. I am searching. 
I must know Go(o)d and Go(o)d only. Is there one 
‘jot or tittle’ of one single phase of our past associated 
experiences that you cannot pardon and be happy about 
it ? When a human being emerges into the saving graces 

—45— 


Ethel Ernestine 

offered by divine Science he feels as if he had taken a 
new lease on life-^and he has—and at each spiritual 
uplift he renews his lease. I feel a new lease tonight. 
If there is an offense from me, trying to hold you in 
unforgiveness, that is the d(evil) I want to destroy 
first. 7 ’ 

There was a short silence. Conscience was supplying 
the answer. 

“I intended to ask you to tell me,” said Paul, “but 
a consciousness higher than either of ours reveals to me 
that those barriers have vanished. I now feel an ex¬ 
alted freedom from those weights, a freedom that I 
want you to feel/*’ He paused again. “It comes to me 
this instant that you do feel free, and have for a long 
time, from our past troubles.’’ Silence reigned for sev¬ 
eral minutes, for he found no words to say. Tears of 
joy filled his eyes and his soul as he waited for the voice 
of Truth. Presently he expressed harmony’s victory in 
another thought: “Ethel, I know that while I have 
been talking you have been taking up the cross. Noth¬ 
ing could be more appropriate for you to do. I cannot 
try to express my gratitude. I’ll hear anything you 
have to say. You must talk to me, because I have not 
heard you for a long time.” 

She began; her voice was euphony itself—a new voice 
accompanies the “new birth.” “Infinite Intelligence 
does find ways of expressing itself. It is compelled to 
express, for expression is one of its laws. Otherwise, 
it would not be infinite and its knowledge would have 
never come to us. I am elevated to a more complete, 
conclusive freedom every hour. Your discernment is 
correct. My understanding teaches me to destroy what¬ 
ever crosses when I see d(evil) weights and barriers 
appearing as realities; we do not rejoice that they are 


Ethel Ernestine 


vanished; we rejoice that it was not true; it was a lie 
about the Truth being there. One of our lecturers gives 
this expression: ‘We mortals linger at the pool of 
Bethesda, watching for the troubling of the waters in¬ 
stead of watching for Christ, who makes us whole.* I 
am divinely blessed in every new joy. Nevertheless, I 
claim nothing for my own. It is the same with us that 
it was with St. Paul, who wrote: ‘The grace of God 
has made me what I am.’ The reward is no more an 
answer to’ my destroying the crosses than it was to your 
obedience, because obedience is taking up the cross, too. 
Suffice it to say that Go(o)d works, and we work, the 
purpose of which is stated in Rev. 4:11. ‘For thou 
hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are 
and were created.* Paul, you are exceedingly humble 
and unselfish tonight. How about my offenses toward 
you? Are they lurking around like hungry foxes de¬ 
vouring sweet grapes?’* 

“I dqn’t know your offenses. They never reached 
me. They can’t be a topic for our discussion. Offenses 
are not a good topic anyway unless they are destroyed, 
and all ours are destroyed.” 

“That is good business,” responded Ethel. “What 
is the next topic?” 

“If you will allow me to mention my preference of 
topics, I will say that we have a wedding and you go 
home with me as Mrs. Patrick.” 

Miss Ernestine promptly objected to this subject, say¬ 
ing: “It is not a good one and cannot be retained on 
the docket.” 

“Will you please tell me why?” came Paul’s ques¬ 
tion, courteously but seriously. 

“Paul,” said Ethel, and as she spoke Intelligence 
again almost told him her decision, “I am going to ask 
— 47 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

supreme Wisdom to reveal the reason. He can do it 
perfectly where I would fail. I am not able to handle 
it tonight. It requires more thought than to rebuke a 
temporary lie. What is your second preference ? ’ ’ 

“Please admit the second topic,” he pleaded. “I 
want your approval of our moving to Galveston. Sister 
and I have considered it. There is nothing there that 
we cannot leave. I am retiring from office-hour busi¬ 
ness. The one reason of our coming is that I can see 
you at least twice a week at church. Can know more 
of your interests, that is, your location, if you are per¬ 
manently located, and your work.” He had no idea 
what she would say and refused to speculate by guessing. 

She was thoughtful and answered him in a thought¬ 
ful, business way. “I do not know what your sacrifice 
is. However, I do know that if ‘divine Life, Truth, 
and Love is established in us/ there never exists but 
one consideration. That consideration is applicable to 
any and all circumstances and conditions. It. answers 
the question: Can I glorify God more by moving, or 
will God receive a greater victory from my moving? In 
solving this problem we must abide in service to Him. 
Aside from this purpose we are aimless—without a pur¬ 
pose. ’ ’ 

“You have taken personality out of the problem for 
me, and I see a beautiful view of ‘the straight and 
narrow way/ I wonder if I can walk therein. That 
puts new thought into the subject. But I shall not be 
satisfied to not move,” he argued. 

“Then if moving will satisfy you, you can honor God 
more in satisfaction than you can in dissatisfaction. 
Go(o)d makes all the moves that are made, and He is 
not a dissatisfied Go(o)d, or He would be known by 
another name.” Her thoughts were clamoring to dem- 


— 48 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

onstrate the truth of what she was saying in both their 
consciences. 

“Continue the treatment,” persisted Paul, “by an¬ 
swering the question: Can you honor Go(o)d more by 
our coming?” 

“Very well,” she said. “We must think of it in 
terms of spirituality—if Go(o)d is to be answered. He 
is not going to let my work be hindered. Your spir¬ 
itual growth might be faster if I could see you oftener, 
and your spiritual growth would be my spiritual growth 
—that is, the help we give our fellow man comes back 
to us in the form of help. Although it would not do to 
see you too often, it would spoil your independence.” 

They stopped the argument here to enjoy the joke 
of Paul’s pretending to see the application of the last 
statement to his refused question. They thought best 
to resume that treatment in their next meeting, and 
with mutual thanks for the evening they parted. 


Chapter X 

Early after breakfast on Sunday morning Mr. Pat¬ 
rick phoned Miss Ernestine to know what her program 
was for the day. Her calls were keeping her in her pri¬ 
vate office; she could not even attend church; she would 
give him some time again in the evening. He attended 
the eleven o’clock service; found a splendidly growing 
membership and enjoyed the spontaneous hospitality 
which was manifested. Time never drags with a Chris¬ 
tian Scientist; there is too much to learn. Mr. Patrick 
was as busy as anybody; he was glad to have the time 
till evening to read and to study. 


- 49 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

On the appointed hour this observable couple ap¬ 
peared in the parlor. “How broad is your firmament? 
greeted the practitioner. 

“You must first explain the meaning of ‘firmament/ 
then I will answer you in some stumbling manner/ ’ he 
said as he placed her chair and motioned for her to be 
seated. 

“That is not a stumbling-block; you cannot stumble 
over it; the real law is to rise. Our commentator says 
on page 505 of ‘Science and Health, With Key to the 
Scripture/ that the ‘Spiritual understanding by which 
material sense is separated from Truth is the firma¬ 
ment.’ Then it follows that our understanding, sepa¬ 
rating the false from the true, the real from the unreal, 
is our firmament.” 

“Ethel, you are a fine teacher. I have never gotten 
it that way. My firmament is much broader than it was 
twenty-four hours ago. Material sense is another name 
for evil, and it is separated from Go(o)d because it is 
not a part of Go(o)d. I can understand that far and 
thank you for your good thoughts. What is the first 
mile post in the premise?” 

“This separated material sense has no power, because 
Go(o)d is ever present, ever powerful, ever active, and 
ever beneficial,” essayed his helpful counselor. 

‘ ‘ Good! ’ ’ exclaimed her student. ‘ ‘ I think my thought 
is following you thus far, but I fail to discern the post 
a mile ahead. What is the second post?” 

“This separated, unpowerful thing is not real, so the 
second mental post in thought to be proven is unreality; 
if the real is infinite and supreme, where is there any 
room for the unreal? The unreality post is the hardest 
one to reach, but is absolutely necessary. Our spiritual 
commentator calls it ‘fundamental/ and says on page 


- 50 — 


Ethel Ernestine 


466 of ‘Science and Health’ that ‘Truth is real and 
error is unreal. This last statement contains the point 
you will most reluctantly admit, although first and last 
it is the most important to understand.’ When you 
have gained and mastered this post you will have ar¬ 
rived at your rightful destination—will have reached 
your goal, heaven-harmony,” she concluded. 

“Ethel, you have transported me throughout a most 
peaceful journey; the law bidding me to rise has had 
its effect. Let me see if I get your route. From a 
firmament (separated sense) to the false sense must be 
seen unpowerful, thence to the unreality up to heav¬ 
en’s door.” 

“Yes. For thoroughness we may change the expres¬ 
sion to firmament, thence to the all-powerful, thence to 
reality into harmony (heaven),” reiterated his teacher. 

Paul substantiated the thought by saying that “The 
seeker can come into the presence of Go(o)d if he has 
faith and obedience enough to take God at his word.” 

“By the way, I have missed the symptoms of your 
cigars?” spoke Ethel, with a question mark in her tone. 

“They were not mine; they did not belong to my 
real self. I can’t smoke if I wanted to; I was healed. 
That Science party, as it brought me across the Gulf 
of Mexico, also brought me across the miserable Gulf of 
Unbelief; and you were with me in spirit; my soul 
never left yours over there. Miles Madoc healed me of 
smoking when he healed me of seasickness—that is, it 
was through his channel of understanding that God 
healed me. Where the reign of Truth is established we 
do not find tobacco in any form; even mortal law con¬ 
demns it as a food. It is a wonderful demonstration, 
too; but listen, Ethel, we appreciate those victories and 
our appreciation is going to aid us to win new victo- 


— 51 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

ries, so I am insisting that you resume the unfinished 
business we left last evening. Have you forgotten it or 
shall I start your thoughts by repeating my question? 
It is one of which I never tire, not even to mortal 
sense.* ’ 

She acquiesced to his suggestion; her first statement 
was: “In supreme Intelligence there is no unfinished 
business. * * 

“Which way is it finished? Will you move to Nash¬ 
ville, or I to Galveston?” 

“It cannot be the former,” she affirmed. 

“Then it must be the latter,” he responded. “I am 
coming to Galveston that we may be the best of friends 
and perchance some day I can do you a neighborly kind¬ 
ness. I am not going to throw any hindering stones in 
your path, for you are overcoming the world (overcom¬ 
ing sin) in your practice, and so is everyone who is 
practising Christianity. I realize that people are often 
hindrances to one another’s good, but that is not my 
aim. I can live more peaceably through life to know 
more of your whereabouts. I want to be near you when 
you are fighting your last battle. Someone will have to 
do something with your remains—I prefer to be that 
one. Ethel, will you grant me these pleasures?” 

“Why, Paul, you are outlining an error, and your 
outlines almost tempt me to wish that they could be 
executed, which would be my pleasure if that battle 
were a present one and if it were Go(o)d’s directing, 
but that is living too far ahead, borrowing too much 
from the future. I have asked for grace ‘just for to¬ 
day’—my daily bread. I do have the consciousness that 
those battles will be cared for—they are already cared 
for. You have the exquisite pleasure of helping me 
today, and when tomorrow comes it will be another to- 


— 52 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

day, and when the next day comes it will only be a 
today; there is no future, it is only the present. The 
one prevailing law is divine Mind, whether it be in 
thought or in deeds, is the law of help, aid, action, serv¬ 
ice. You are coming to Galveston that you may honor 
God more than you do in Nashville. Now, we must pur¬ 
sue this purpose a little further. In what way can you 
honor Him more, or Avhat are the things you could do 
here that you could not do there?” 

“Other than my thoughts of you my mind is vague; 
I know not,” answered Paul. 

“I shall gladly grant your service to me in judging 
me and the service rightly. In my humility I need all 
the righteous judgment that God's children can bestow 
upon me. In my hungering for spiritual food I must 
serve others if I would be served, heal others if I would 
be healed. In fact, He is perfect and infinite; He does 
not need something added to Him to make Him com¬ 
plete. He holds completeness within His omnipotence. 
Our service to Him is our service to' mankind. ‘For 
as much as you have done it unto the least of these, you 
have done it unto me,’ saith the ‘Lord of Hosts.’ The 
final conclusion is, then, that you can serve Go(o)d by 
serving mankind better by the way He leads, in His 
plans, and with His permission.” 

The seriousness of this phase inclined Miss Ernestine 
to walk the floor and rebuke error aloud, as she often 
did, but it was a public parlor and she refrained from 
leaving her chair. 

“Ethel, my mind is not so vague; I am beginning to 
see that I can gain more and apply more of the healing 
mind by moving, and since that is my salvation, my 
eternal life, and my individual place and problem, I 
am moving. How my thanks go up to divine Intelli- 


— 53 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

gence for His service to me through your thinking. I 
could embrace you for that redemption, and I do not 
understand why I should not embrace you.” Paul's 
tone was half-despairing. 

* ‘ When we are thankful we are happy, and vice versa. 
We must not only have good in our consciousness, but 
the consciousness itself must be good; keep physique 
out of the way—embrace the thought in your thought, 
then your thanks to Him will rest on me,” she ex¬ 
plained. 

“Plow much higher do you want to be lifted?” 

“As high as Intelligence is,” was the rejoinder. 
“There is no state of over-righteousness. The harmoni¬ 
ous adjustment is mere righteousness, so we have no 
fear of going too high in consciousness. We must al¬ 
ways manifest the spirit of seeking the highest, other¬ 
wise a greater temptation might come upon us. A seek¬ 
ing mind is a mind that strives to know the right, fol¬ 
lowed by a strife to do the right, in all things. With¬ 
out this strife error remains uncovered until Go(o)d, 
through some unseen channel, reached the conscious¬ 
ness. Whatever good is revealed in answer to this strife 
is a revelation from God. Therefore, God is the source 
of all true knowledge. Higher than that we cannot go; 
lower than that is discord.” 

“That is fine gospel; please help me with another 
thought. I am going out in the morning with a real 
estate man to select a residence,” said Paul. “Do you 
know a choice location?” 

“I have not a competent knowledge of a residence 
district, but Go(o)d is here close somewhere to direct 
you to a good place. Don’t you know Go(o)d’s reflec¬ 
tion is the only man there is. He is a good one, too. 
He is real estate himself, because His mission is not 


— 54 — 


Ethel Ernestine 


only good but fixed and substantial. If you don’t be¬ 
lieve reflection is a good man, try him and see.” Miss 
Ernestine spoke these words with even more increasing 
radiance than she had manifested previously. 

“ ‘God rewards them that diligently seek Him.’ You 
make me ashamed for not more diligently seeking Him, ’ ’ 
muttered Mr. Patrick as he dropped his glance to the 
floor. “Do you ever get away from good?” 

“How can I? And why should I?” were her next 
searching questions. “Go(o)d is not separate; it is an 
unmixed solid, permeating the universe, and without it 
all would go to pieces—become vapor—nothing.” 

“Do you ever see the movies?” he asked. 

She was compelled to argue for Good, but it really 
was not she; it was the Conscience within her. “Very 
occasionally. I am hard to please in a show. It must 
maintain two facts to interest me. First, Spirit over¬ 
coming matter; and, second, an acknowledgment of that 
power in scientific terms. There are several of that 
kind on the screen, such as ‘The Third Degree,’ ‘The 
Mayor of Filbert,’ etc. They exalt the divinity of the 
Creator, and people who see these plays are better citi¬ 
zens because they have a desire to overcome temper, 
hatred, malice, and such like.” 

They rose as with one accord and strolled along the 
aisle to the elevator, where they chatted “Good-by,” but 
made no specific engagement for the morrow. 


Chapter XI 

The practitioner’s office hours closed at five o’clock 
in the afternoon. Mr. Patrick was there waiting to 
walk to the hotel with her and to tell her his arrange- 


— 55 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

ment; as he could get a certain train in a couple of 
hours, he expected to leave the city earlier than he at 
first intended. On leaving the office building he invited 
her to dine with him at five-thirty, which she did. He 
had spent the day investigating homes, had bargained 
for a valuable residence not very far out and not very 
far from the Church. Although it was not the distance 
merely that he admired, for he owned a first-rate Cadil¬ 
lac and he and his sister were both fine chauffeurs. He 
liked the conveniences otherwise and knew Mrs. Alfred 
would be comfortable and contented. They would be 
citizens of Galveston in a fortnight. 

“If my career in this city proves as gratifying as it 
has during the past three days I shall soon be blissful 
enough for the next plane of life, 7 ? jested Mr. Patrick. 

“Real gratification depends upon whether or not we 
allow d(evil) to eclipse our Go(o)d, which is present 
in all times/’ admonished Miss Ernestine. 

“Mortals grow terribly selfish. Here I am consuming 
this entire momentous occasion by talking about my 
own selfish ideas and plans. Why do you allow me to 
do that? Ethel, I would much rather hear something 
about your affairs than to exhibit mine to the exclusion 
of all yours,” asserted Mr. Patrick, almost condemning 
himself for usurping the time. 

“That will not do, Paul. You cannot malpractise 
yourself,” persisted Ethel. “You were not discussing 
your affairs selfishly. Temporarily put aside all adjec¬ 
tive attributes of Mind and know that Mind is God— 
consider the noun attributes; ideas emanating from Him 
are incapable, exempt from malpractice. I thought you 
were giving me an extra deal for rejoicement with you. 
You were adding much to Go(o)d’s interest. Since no 
one is disadvantaged by the transaction I am thoroughly 


— 56 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

rejoiced in your choice. True ambition creates more 
occasion for more good. I could not be a Scientist and 
be non-felicitous in the conquest of Spirit over matter 
by the achievement of others. Moreover, while you were 
telling me the plans of your consciousness there were 
thoughts busily plying in my own.” 

This was a greater surprise than Patrick could hear 
without demanding her confession. His manner was so 
searchingly inquiring that she proceeded unembarrassed. 
“During my stay on the Western coast my voice yielded 
to treatment of Science and I sang songs in a few keys 
quite entertainingly, but I am deficient in piano music. 
Mrs. Alfred can give me piano lessons when I can spare 
the time, in order for me to play my own accompani¬ 
ment to the church hymns. That will give me an excuse 
to come out to see you once in a while. ’’ Her eyes were 
not resting on Paul as she finished this last sentence, 
but his were resting on her. 

“Excuse,’’ he repeated. “Will that be necessary? I 
intended to hear the plan to which you alluded if I 
missed the train, but now I am willing to go. We will 
hear more plans later.’’ Bidding her a hasty farewell 
in the lobby, he was gone, knowing he would see her 
again ere many days passed by. 

Paul thoughtfully kept his promise to let his sister 
know of his arrival and she drove to the station to meet 
him. Things had gone on beautifully during his ab¬ 
sence. At the dinner table -they lingered over the tea¬ 
cups to live in the confidence of a mutual welfare. 

“Paul, you look as invigorated and refreshed as if 
you had played for a long vacation,” petted his sister 
as she patted him on the head. 

“Vacations don’t produce that effect. You are seeing 


— 57 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

the reflection of a spiritual uplift,” answered her 
brother. 

‘‘Ethel receives a dozen calls a day or more. She is 
in demand all day and frequently the nights. I only 
talked to her in three different engagements, and they 
were not long ones. All her conversations are scientific, 
practical applications of a righteous consciousness, and 
I enjoyed her society immeasurably. There is not a 
vestige of a fading youth, or worry, or disease in her 
appearance, and she does not let those suppositious 
complaints come into her consciousness. ’ ’ 

“I hoped you would bring her home with you,” was 
his sister’s next encouragement. 

“Sis, that time has not come, and it may never come. 
Ethel thinks that we can honor God more or do more 
good in the world by remaining single. If her con¬ 
sciousness tells her differently it will be different, if 
not it will stand for what it is.” 

“She is correct in wanting to demonstrate the right¬ 
ness of conscience. In our diversity of gifts we can’t 
all do the same work,” acceded his sister. “Sometimes 
evil tempts me to want to govern life in my own hands. 
I wonder what you will do living alone when I have 
passed on. You know I am several years your senior.” 

Before she had finished her sentence Paul put his 
arms around her neck, begging her to not borrow any¬ 
thing from the future. “It does not belong to us yet. 
Grace for today is our ‘daily bread,’ and ‘daily bread’ 
(grace) will sustain us when tomorrow becomes today. 
We never live alone. God is within and without—on 
the inside and on the outside. He is the existence that 
we claim and will care for His own.” 

“What a redeeming thought that is. I am going to 
live it.” Looking straight into the eyes of her brother, 


— 58 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

she expressed her observation: “You have obtained a 
great blessing .’ } 

“No one is more conscious of that fact than I am, 
and I am trying to do likewise in passing the blessing 
to you.” 

“ ‘What blesses one blesses all. , It has already come 
to me in double fold.” Her voice was full of the kind¬ 
ness of gratitude. 

Paul Patrick was steering ahead in his ideas. He 
was determined that his sister should understand him. 
At least she should not be blinded to the purpose of his 
plans. To her sense of thinking and judging, his words 
waxed eloquent as she listened to his utterances. “Love 
is not human sentiment holding one quality one hour 
and another' quality the next hour; loving one person 
now and another one after while is human partiality 
seeking to win favor from the physical man by personal 
conceit. Divine Love is impartial. The transient, 
changeable likes and dislikes belong to what the world 
calls material business of ‘falling in love , with people 
and then ‘falling out . 9 There is no bigger d(evil) than 
the human conception of ‘falling in love.’ There is no 
such thing in heaven-harmony. Its very subtlety is 
more vicious than the sins of the wildest vampire, be¬ 
cause it is more general. There is no virtue in the old 
sentiment of a ‘graceful form,’ and the ‘luster of eyes/ 
and an ‘illustrious forehead/ unless they are manifes¬ 
tations or the evidences of the fruit of the immortal 
Christly deeds; even then it is Spirit that should be 
recognized and praised and not the hypnotic sense. 
Love is given that mortals may grow into it by accept¬ 
ing the truth about God and man, and proving every 
step of the way—proving the way is the work which 
follows our understanding. All the love there is is Di- 


— 59 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

vine Love we reflect toward fellow beings because we 
are the ‘image and likeness’ of God, who, according to 
the scripture, is Love. People who think they ‘fall in 
love’ mix it up until they show nearly as much anger 
as they do love. False sentiment or changeable human 
notions will not heal the carnal mind of sin and disease. 
They are not an element in the consummation of good. 
Ethel knew they were untrue years ago, but she could 
not make others see them false till she learned it in the 
Science of Christianity, and even now God reveals it 
through her silent treatment.” 

“Spiritually speaking, she is mine and I am hers, 
because God’s love unites our being. No serpentine 
tempter will ever cut the ties that cement our souls in 
one. I have not declared this devotion to her because 
one of two things must be overcome: Either I am not 
ready to make the avowal or she is not ready to receive 
it. Go(o)d is guiding and guarding our readiness, and 
I am perfectly happy and contented in the conscious¬ 
ness of the situation. In the lofty sense of love, men 
and women do loving deeds and do them more lovingly. 
It is not my intention to intrude on her time. I am 
anxious for her to carry on her practice, and it keeps 
her too busy to accept callers. Neither is she healing 
the sick by attending social functions; her sweetest com¬ 
munions with God are when she is alone with God. ’ ’ 

Mrs. Alfred objected to nothing he told her. She 
had implicit faith in all his plans and purposes. She 
and her brother were industrious in the domestic de¬ 
tails of moving. The yard man was to move with them 
and live on the place. The allotted days passed by and 
soon they were cozily housed in their new home. 


— 60 — 


Ethel Ernestine 


Chapter XII 

Paul Patrick was handsome, rather tall, erect, well- 
proportioned, and walked with a springing movement. 
His inclination was versatile; at home he was a prince; 
on the street he was a sociable friend to both boys and 
men; in business he possessed a rare intuition. He had 
been in the city hardly two weeks when he was selected 
head of the First National Bank. Mrs. Alfred was kind, 
vigorous, and learned. They entered the church work 
steadfastly and other than the services they seldom saw 
Miss Ernestine; however, she was their practitioner, and 
in this fellowship she knew much of their vocation and 
they knew much of hers. Mrs. Alfred never felt that 
the young lady was a stranger, neither did anyone else 
who ever came into her presence. Her quietude, dig¬ 
nity and propriety, animated by incorporal Intelligence, 
produced within her personality a sweet, patient atti¬ 
tude which seemed to her friends like perpetual peace. 
She manifested the same energetic spirit everywhere 
they saw her—a spirit that never grew wearisome. She 
found no time for her music lessons she planned from 
Mrs. Alfred, but once in two, three or four months, 
when she became hungry to hear musical harmony, she 
spent an evening or an afternoon in the Patrick home. 
Mrs. Alfred’s firm, soft touch and talent made her ren¬ 
dition exquisite. Mr. Patrick sang a very extraordinary 
tenor. Months and months passed by compatibly. Paul 
Patrick had not pressed his matrimonial claim upon the 
object of his affection. He was supremely happy in the 
consciousness of two facts; first, the Father’s wisdom 
was caring always for all their relations to Him, and to 
each other; second, that every obstruction between him 


— 61 —- 


Ethel Ernestine 

and Ethel which might have possibly prevented their 
marriage had been overcome. Finally, one magnificent 
October evening, Miss Ernestine, experiencing a sub¬ 
sidence in the requests upon her for treatment, sought 
the society of Paul and his sister. She made her wishes 
known to Mrs. Alfred, who, haying no special program 
on hand, gave the former an urgent invitation to dine 
with them. Miss Ernestine, with the utmost gladness in 
her mind, complied with the invitation. She and Mrs. 
Alfred were in the latter’s parlor enjoying the hymns 
and singing the favorite ones. Their voices were mel¬ 
low and blended together in such catchy, beautiful' 
strains that the dullest sense of chords could not have 
failed to have been awakened had it been tangible. The 
table was spread. Paul’s hours were overdue from the 
bank; he was expected home. He came. 

At this step in the story an awful thing happened— 
too awful for words if it could be omitted. It is told 
to the shame of those who try to ascribe reality to false 
belief—matter. Mr. Patrick was drunk—beastly drunk. 
Neither of the women had ever known him to drink, so 
they were slow to discern that the trouble was intoxi¬ 
cation. 

Miss Ernestine was not an extreme dresser; her neat¬ 
ness was more properly called extreme. She looked su¬ 
perb in blue, and on this occasion she wore a Copen¬ 
hagen messaline containing a dapper design of the Tro¬ 
jan wall in white, an amber topaz brooch, and a touch 
of old rose in her blue beads. Her complexion was not 
“made up”; it was a soft, natural texture without a 
blemish. Her spiritual presence fairly beamed. If the 
charms of personal appearance had power to destroy 
the d(evils) of animal magnetism, the sight of her would 
have sobered Mr. Patrick’s mortal mind, but the only 


— 62 — 


Ethel Ernestine 


antitoxin to mortal mind is immortal Mind, yet the vis¬ 
ible application is never made, for mortal mind is neither 
real nor universal, hence cannot come into the perfect 
realm. He would have suffered any torture in prefer¬ 
ence to presenting himself in her company in this pre¬ 
dicament. Notwithstanding he had two or three times 
previously found her in company with his sister, the 
idea of her being present on this particular evening was 
remote from his thoughts. It was not that she was un¬ 
welcome; his own condition being outlandishly unspeak¬ 
able, and his limited sanity too weak to heal himself, 
he became exasperated. The d(evil) which seemed to 
have dominion over Paul's admirable nature made him 
use the most wicked threats in the roughest language 
imaginable. His fusilage of abuses was directed and 
centered on the prime consoler of his being. 

If Miss Ernestine claimed to be in. any classification 
of thinkers at all, she claimed to be a prohibitionist. 
Her expression of horror flitted by like a flash. In 
emergency she often began treatment by a rigid self- 
examination. “There are three of us, professed disci¬ 
ples of Jesus. Can either of us prove it? It is evident 
that Mr. Patrick and his sister will not take up the 
heavy cross. Does Go(o)d have a representative pres¬ 
ent?* Who of us will it be? Has the Almighty and the 
All-Wise commanded His children to do His work and 
then withheld His power—punishing them for the weak¬ 
ness, in His refusal of the proper weapon—Spirit ? 
Jesus commanded: ‘Feed my sheep.' Can I do it?” 

At the outburst Mrs. Alfred began weeping, scolding, 
and entreating all in the same breath. Her sense of 
the disgrace was inconceivable; she reclined herself on 
the couch. Miss Ernestine stood near her a minute to 
reason and in a clear, undisturbed voice spoke to her, 
— 63 — 


Ethel Ernestine 


saying: “Don’t find a fault in him. His soul is the 
same perfect soul it has always been; the perfect soul 
must overcome the ‘sinful soul’ that the scripture says 
must die. If you feel as if you have not the under¬ 
standing to destroy the ‘sinful soul,’ leave your brother 
to Go(o)d. Pray that I may do the work of Him ‘who 
sent me.’ Just in the proportion that we know Go(o)d 
is real and all, and His suppositious opposite is unreal 
and none, we prove we are His children.” Then the 
seeker of supreme Truth sat at the library table, and, 
resting her elbow on the table, covered her eyes with 
her hand. 

Paul Patrick was half-sitting, half-leaning on the end 
of the table, and when the guest occupied the chair near 
him he noticed her patience; his emotions were touched 
and there came a short lull in his harangue, yet in his 
further utterance he called her a liar, a thief, a mur¬ 
derer, accusing her of nearly all the crimes in the 
d(evil)’s catalogue. He spoke evil all by himself, for 
the practitioner saw nothing but God and His idea. 
Once this evil threatened to kill her, but it could not 
stay in her presence, for she knew “what it was and 
what it was not.” As it made that threat its claimed 
victim shuffled down on a rug. The two women neither 
moved nor spoke. A half hour passed, and Paul sat 
up sober, but full of remorse. 

“Ethel, in the name of mercy, what has happened? 
What have I done?” 

“I am not repeating things that are not Go(o)d’s 
business. ’ ’ 

Thoroughly conscious, though uneasy, he asked: 
“What have you done?” 

“Nothing,” she instantly answered. 

“What has God done?” he persisted. 


— 64 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

Miss Ernestine spoke softly: “Some day when Truth 
is more established in us we may speak of it. Do not 
talk to me tonight. I am too busy.” There was an 
unusual kindness in her voice; it sounded to him like 
a redemptive spirit from the heavenly shore—the shore 
of harmony. He beckoned to his sister to pursue him 
and they withdrew to his bedroom. 

Mrs. Alfred had not asked to be excused from her 
guest, so she explained to her brother in a few minutes 
what had transpired and they started to rejoin their 
visitor. They descended the stairs to the wide landing, 
then stepped back as they heard a stamp of feet and a 
violent ring at the door. They remained in the dark 
while Miss Ernestine went to the door. 

“I—s Mr. Pat—rick h—ere?” stammered a coarse 
voice. • 

“I think Mr. Patrick is here. Will you come in?” 
invited Miss Ernestine in her quiet, graceful way. 

<r N—aw, I’ll not c—ome in. Tell—him J—ones would 
like to see him,” gruffly muttered the man. 

Miss Ernestine nodded her assent and tripped up¬ 
stairs. Patrick, of course, heard the man and as she 
approached him he cried in a subdued tone: “Tell him. 
any excuse you want to, Ethel. I can see no one ex¬ 
cept you tonight.” Under her protest he agreed to 
meet Mr. Jones in thirty minutes, so this was the mes¬ 
sage she took to the door and repeated the invitation to 
come in. He hesitated, then sat in a big chair near the 
door. 

The man seemed to want to say something, so he 
began: “For years Patrick and I were revenue officers. 
Today I accidentally found him in the bank. He didn’t 
want to drink with me, but I made him take a dram. 
It flew to his head and by the time he started home he 

— 65 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

was tipsy. I thought I would come out to see him. He 
never did drink much. He can’t stand much badness 
since he got lined up with this Christian Science stuff. 
I wonder where he got onto that—although he is a fine 
fellow; they don’t make ’em any better. We could 
have a warm time tonight if he will go.” The man 
suddenly stopped talking. His being was changing from 
unreality to reality. Pie began to cast positive glances 
at Miss Ernestine, then ventured more remarks about 
Mr. Patrick. 

“When Patrick was a very young man he had a 
sweetheart that he will not talk much of. She was a 
fine girl. I always thought they should have married, 
until she went West and crazy over this Science. I 
have no use for it,” he added, shaking his head. 

There was a calm. Miss EAiestine was silently re¬ 
buking every complaint from both sinful mind and 
body. She had covered the whole ground of creation 
and creation’s spiritual laws. Paul knew what was 
occurring, for the “signs following” a spiritual knowl¬ 
edge are the proofs of that knowledge. Jones was feel¬ 
ing the healing warmth of a presence he had never felt 
before. 

“Lady, are you Mr. Patrick’s niece?” inquired the 
man after another silence. 

Her smile grew a little deeper as she explained: “No, 
I came out as a friend to the Patricks to spend the 
evening, and to hear Mrs. Alfred play some hymns.” 

Another silent wait and Mr. Jones was sober enough 
to become amazed at the cultured atmosphere in which 
he found himself. “I beg pardon for visiting at a late 
hour—I’ll see Patrick in the morning.” 

Since he had been in the house he had done most of 
the talking. When he started to go, Miss Ernestine 


— 66 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

walked to the door, endeavoring to detain him in order 
to see Go(o)d’s deed more perfectly finished. She 
asked: “Have you been in the city long?” 

“Exactly two days,” said the man, somewhat per¬ 
plexed at his culpable ignorance in making this untimely 
blunder. After a moment’s hesitation he regained cour¬ 
age in which he said, as if in an effort for amends: 
“Tell the Patricks I beg their pardon for intruding; 
especially for coming out here drunk. It gets me into 
more trouble than anything in the world and never does 
pull me out of mire.” 

“Has it occurred to your mind that drinking is an 
evil, that you are in the wrong ? ’ ’ asked the practitioner, 
as she watched him in replying. 

“Oh, yes; decidedly,” agreed the man. 

“You know we do not usually correct ourselves unless 
we are conscious that we are in the wrong. A mistake 
must occur to us or we see no correction to make. We 
can only act upon w T hat is in our consciousness; if we 
are receptive to laws of Justice we can improve our con¬ 
sciousness,” she commented in such patient calmness 
that the sobered man began to stare at her, to listen to 
her wisdom. 

“ It’s harmful to me and to everybody in contact with 
me; it’s humiliating to my wife and a reflection on my 
children,” he confessed. 

“Would you like to be rid of it?” was her next star¬ 
tling question. 

“I most assuredly would. I feel tonight as if I could 
never drink another drop.” 

“Sometimes the only thing we have to do to be rid 
of grossness is to be willing. We are not required to 
give up what is good for us to have—it is the unwill- 


— 67 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

ingness that we must let loose. Did you ever hear the 
story of Amy Gracia V* 

“Miss—if you can spare the time I should like to 
hear it,” for a hungering for righteousness appeared in 
his mind. 

“Be seated, Mr. Jones. I like to repeat that story.” 
As she spoke they occupied the chairs. “Amy Gracia 
was a living example who was willing to make a com¬ 
plete surrender of all her unwillingness in exchange for 
a ‘new life.’ She was a wild, miserable, unkind, acri¬ 
monious creature whom nobody loved. She gathered 
armfuls of the choicest flowers from her neighbors’ yards 
without permission; she appropriated for her own use 
things that did not belong to her; she gossiped, slurred, 
disparaged and depreciated to and against anyone who 
might chance to be the current subject; she joined others 
entirely by self-invitation. Her parents decided they 
would move away. Her acquaintances were glad to 
think they would see the child no more. 

“In the course of two or three years, to the regret of 
the villagers, the Gracia family came back. The prob¬ 
lem with these villagers was: ‘What would they do 
when they were forced to tolerate Amy?’ In the mean¬ 
time Amy had seen a new light. She had corrected her 
disagreeable habits; she had reversed her obnoxious man¬ 
ners; she greeted everybody with a smiling face and a 
cheerful thought; her presence was captivating at home 
and abroad; she was a favorite gamester with the chil¬ 
dren ; she was thoughtful of the sick; she sought to lend 
a helping hand even where she was least welcome. When 
acquaintances asked her rude questions concerning her 
reversed disposition she was not offended. She merely 
explained that what acquaintances thought of her fail¬ 
ures and misfortunes had not disturbed her and now 


— 68 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

she was decidedly stronger fortified—what they might 
say of her fortunes and successes would not disturb her 
either. As she had reversed her character, the people 
were forced to reverse their opinions; thus to them Amy 
grew wonderful. They considered her the most beau¬ 
tiful girl they knew. That is the story of a ‘new birth’ 
begun in human conscience, in which willingness for 
the wrong disappeared. Amy Gracia received it; her 
mentality was ‘born again.’ To reverse an evil means 
to divest our mind of evil and fill the vacancy with 
good. The test question is: What are we willing to 
do?” was Miss Ernestine’s final deduction. 

“I thank you, lady, for relating that story. I ’ll think 
of it many a time. I already begin to feel the effects 
of it, because I fear I have committed an irreparable 
injury to Mr. Patrick today,” mused the man, much 
improved in reasoning. ^ 

“If we love our friends we will never lead them 
astray or entice them to degradation. Love is not guilty 
of that sort of work,” affirmed Miss Ernestine. “Lov¬ 
ing our friends causes good deeds to happen. The spir¬ 
itual interpretation in our textbook says, on page 286, 
‘In the Saxon and twenty other tongues good is the 
term for God. The Scriptures declare all that He made 
to be good, like Himself—good in principle and in idea. ’ 
If the opposite of Go(o)d has an equal power, then we 
have another god before us.” 

“You may be right about it, but it stings me because 
that way of looking at it makes me an enemy to Pat¬ 
rick—a thing I would not be in my right mind for the 
world,” added Mr. Jones. 

“The right mind is the one we want always to keep,” 
she enjoined. 

Jones, laughing at what might be inferred by the 


— 69 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

expression “right mind,” said he would see Patrick in 
the morning, then went away. He walked away straight 
and firmly. The further he walked the better he felt. 
A miracle had been performed. He knew not how or 
why. (Miracle, from the Greek word semeion, means 
signs—signs of divine power.) 


Chapter XIII 

Mrs. Alfred and her brother at first felt horrified by 
the coming of Jones. He seemed to them an intruder, 
but he was not, because Go(o)d led him there to be 
benefited. During the last occurrence Mr. Patrick real¬ 
ized that his conviction (if he possessed any) must be 
firm and courageous. His convictions of being regen¬ 
erated—his departure from sin—his love for Ethel. He 
deserved no leniency; he was asking none; he quickly 
came downstairs and placed a chair, in which he sat 
facing one dearer to him than his own life. 

“Ethel, I am going to express more love toward you, 
both in words and in deeds, because there is more mine 
to express. Minutes have been hours. I thought you 
never would let Jones go. I was almost selfish enough 
to have seen him go without an uplift. Still, I am glad 
he is healed. Why have you not told me that fine story 
of Amy Gracia ?” 

“I supposed you recognized ‘the new birth’ and did 
not need it. Anyway, it never came into my conscious¬ 
ness when we were talking. Why did you not want to 
see your friend?” was her reply. 

“Friend? Jones my friend? In what? The word 
‘friend’ in that connection sounds odious. The things 
I once endured T now hate,” reflected Paul. 


— 70 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

“It is not the ‘image and likeness’ that you hate. 
Don’t fasten repugnance to the reflection of Good. 
There is a difference in what we understand to be real 
and our associating with people submerged in such odi¬ 
ous beliefs,” warned Miss Ernestine. 

“My time and attention are not his tonight, and I 
have cried too much for him to see me,” said Paul. 

“It is not any harm to cry. You let him see you 
drunk. I can’t see why you would object to him seeing 
you cry,” wondered his sister. 

“Ethel would object to my rehearsing to him why I 
am crying,” argued Paul. 

+ “Yes, and she no doubt objects to the error that 
allured you to drink with him, too,” sighed Mrs. Al¬ 
fred. “Come, children, let us eat dinner and call it a 
midnight lunch,” she suggested. 

“I am not reflecting material hunger. I’ll say good¬ 
bye. You and Paul eat your lunch,” said Ethel as she 
closed her books preparatory to going home. 

“Ethel, my guest room is yours. Spend the night out 
here. You must eat and sleep,” urged Mrs. Alfred 
gently. 

“No, I thank you. It is later now than I intended 
to stay. I must go to my room. My burden is too 
heavy.” As she spoke these words a golden light 
streamed slantingly downward, enveloping her in its 
rays. 

Paul’s weeping flowed anew as if his heart-of-mind 
would break. He came to her, put his right arm across 
the top of her chair, his left hand resting on the left 
chair-arm, and leaned close to her as he tried to give 
and receive a comforting word. “ What is your burden, 
Ethel? You have done all the Father sent you to do?” 

“I do not know I have done all, Paul; the world has 


— 71 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

plenty of woes—plenty of poor unfortunate beings who 
do not know their Father—‘Our Father which art in 
heaven.’ ‘The harvest is white and the laborers are 
few/ ” argued the practitioner seriously, yet very un¬ 
de jectedly. 

“My dear little lady,” coaxed Paul, “the spiritual 
meaning of the word tried is trusted, purified, or sepa¬ 
rated. In the language of Job, ‘God has tried you and 
you have come forth as gold.’ You are pure gold in 
my estimation. You are not to take the world on your 
shoulders. The Father will let you master all the re¬ 
sponsibility He gives you. Eat something with us, then 
if you must go home I’ll drive you. We can’t allow 
you to go alone.” 

The supernatural light remained as it came. Ethel 
was neither fearful nor surprised. She was engulfed in 
the happiness that accompanies spiritual power. With¬ 
out replying, she followed him to the table, ate a short 
course with them, after which she asked them to excuse 
her that she might go to her room to work alone. 

They would not excuse her on those terms. Paul was 
positive, but spoke kindly, “I cannot permit you to go 
home unaccompanied, Ethel. It is not prudent.” 

“Prudent,” she echoed, as if she wanted an explana¬ 
tion. 

“Yes, prudent,” repeated Paul firmly. “I know I 
have not been prudent tonight, though you told me not 
to talk to you.” 

“Listen,” Ethel demanded. “You cannot malprac- 
tise yourself concerning what you have been. I most 
humbly beg your pardon for repeating that word. I 
did not intend any resentment or rebuke. Accept my 
apology for the insinuation, if it sounded like one. I 
am trying to see that there is nothing opposite prudence 


— 72 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

which is always good; in the realm of good (prudence) 
there is no imprudence. ’ ’ 

He didn’t wait for her to finish the statement. “Don’t 
beg my pardon for anything. Your apologies are coals 
of fire upon my head. Come with me in the car. I’ll 
try to see you safely home.” She bade Mrs. Alfred 
good night, and when they were seated in the car Paul 
inquired tenderly concerning her comforts: “If this 
light remains with you, what are you going to do?” 

“At present I have no idea. Go(o)d will lead me 
in the right way. I used to think when I read about 
God leading the Children of Israel out of Egypt that 
He took Moses by the hand and walked before him. 
Now I know that thought-emanations from divine Mind 
lead us all the time. We have the promises many, many 
times. You remember in Prov. 3:6 we read, ‘In all thy 
ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct thy paths’ 
—notice it is all thy ways, not a part of them. I am 
trying to acknowledge Him; that is my part of the 
condition in the promise.” 

“Suppose you move in with us. My home is yours; 
my service is yours. We will do anything to help you. 
I want you to feel that freedom about it. Ethel, do 
you realize you can come to us any time, if you will, 
or if you need our help? All my residence is at your 
disposal; not only that, but my devotion is yours. Will 
you accept one or both of them?” 

“Be careful, Paul, not to make my cross heavier. 
You can do a greater deed for me than to give me a 
shelter. The time has come when I need a practitioner. 
You can give me your scientific prayers. I will be 
forced to do whatever comes into my consciousness. I 
am not afraid. The light represents understanding; it 
means good.” 


— 73 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

“I am trying to make your cross lighter, or eliminate 
it entirely. I am unprepared to do the work of a prac¬ 
titioner in this case, for I am too full of fear. You 
have had my prayers during our whole acquaintance. 
I am sorely penitent over my failure today. Only tell 
me one thing—that you will forgive me in not holding 
this drunken spree against me,” pleaded Paul. 

‘ ‘ I hardly know how to tell you any more than I have 
told you tonight. If I could hold it against you I am 
sure I would; I am a great deal more sure that Go(o)d , s 
laws will not let me hold aught against you. How could 
I help to free you from an evil if I were holding an 
evil upon you ? Will it be necessary to prove more than 
is already proven, that what I thought was my honest 
good will toward you has been, is, and always will be, 
with you?” 

“No further proof is required. You have made me 
happier by putting it in those words. Unchangeable 
good will is love. Had I not felt your influence I could 
not have longed for you and sought you as I have.” 

“Paul, the proper throne for all relief is Go(o)d and 
Him only; leave me out of the affair,” she begged, “and 
answer the question: Has God forgiven you? How 
about your atonement with Him?” 

“God has forgiven me. His instruction to me comes 
with the healing and says, ‘Sin no more.’ I shall never 
commit that offense again. My atonement was made 
perfect when I was healed, but to leave you out of the 
affair would be leaving you out of my life, and I can 
not do it. Your pardon is necessary to my peace of 
mind,” persisted Paul. 

All right. If a great God like our God can afford 
to pardon you, I can afford to pardon you, too. My 
pardon is very insignificant compared with His. Go(o)d 


— 74 — 


Ethel Ernestine 


spoke through the consciousness of Jeremiah, saying: 
‘Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off? Can 
any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see 
him? Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the Lord.’ 
Now, if you have your own pardon, quit malpractising 
yourself, look to Go(o)d, and you cannot keep from 
manifesting good,” was her metaphysical reply. 

“I thank you, Ethel, with all my soul. You have 
done your part today. When I did not take a stand 
against Jones’ insistence to drink I was weighed in the 
balance and found wanting. That grievance is healed; 
still I can’t claim to guard error close enough to never 
be attacked on this plane of life by some form of error, 
neither can anyone else. My love for you is not found 
wanting in the balance.” 

“Paul, that is true metaphysically, but in this in¬ 
stance it has not been proven. Your evil in the balance 
made its attack on me. Go(o)d was present, and like 
Daniel among the lions I am unharmed. To mortal 
mind (evil mind) that subtlety which seems to appear 
in the balance of Spirit often rebounds. The error we 
allow to creep in on one side will appear when least 
wanted and least expected,” she explained. 

“Ethel, T find no fault with you. I make no demands 
for your forgiveness, because you are compelled by the 
laws of God to forgive me, or your unforgiveness would, 
as you say, appear sometime to prevent your healing. 
I can see that the good mind is clear of unforgiveness; 
it is going to be hard for me, until your need is met, 
to pretend to work. Promise me that you will let me 
hear from you often,” pleaded Paul as he stopped the 
car at the hotel. 

“You are not going to be uneasy about me; God- 
given devotion casts out fear. The laws of Conscience 

•— 75 — 


Ethel Ernestine 


constitute the only way out of discord, or the continu¬ 
ance in harmony. There are three chapters in Matthew 
which sectarian believers think were not meant for us, 
but they were intended as much for our instruction to¬ 
day as they were intended for the students two thou¬ 
sand years ago. They are a treatment to the seeker of 
Conscience. The fifth, sixth and seventh chapters. 
Study them as you have time and you will feel better. ’ ’ 
She saluted a good-night in military style and hastened 
up the steps into the building. He drove faster home 
than he had come, for her presence was precious to him. 
His morbid mistake, or the fear it had engendered, was 
killing him. He drove several blocks from his shortest 
route in order to avoid passing a man, sitting on a 
curbstone, whom he thought was Jones. 


• Chapter XIV 

Morning came. “How was Ethel when you left her, 
Paul,” inquired Mrs. Alfred as they came to the break¬ 
fast table. 11 She felt well and not at all disturbed. 
She doesn’t fear anything—not even death. In fact, I 
think she sees a complete harmony after she leaves her 
body and cares not how soon she makes that transition 
—although she did not intimate it. When Miles Madoc 
found me on the steamer I did not want to get well. 
It was discouragement or fickle-mindedness with me. It 
is understanding with Ethel. She thinks it is harder 
to live than it is to die. I have not reached that point. 
My fear is that when the light leaves her she will go 
with it.” 

“Oh, Paul, don’t think that! Those thoughts never 


— 76 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

would keep her here and we need her. Error is trying 
to make you give up. The love Ethel manifested for 
you last night is holding you in protection. In the 
chemicalization error comes to the top, passes off in 
effervescence. You know effervescence does not hurt 
anybody. ’’ 

“Sis, what a fine thought you are giving me. I am 
glad you see it that way. It helps me. ’ ’ 

“Were you up quite a while last night after you came 
in?” she asked. 

“Yes, a while. Ethel gave me three chapters for 
reference to read when I had time. I had time before 
I retired. The fifth, sixth and seventh chapters of Mat¬ 
thew. They help me. You read them today,’’ said 
Paul in a suggestive manner. 

He had planned to leave the house on early schedule 
time and go by the office of Miss Ernestine to see if the 
visible light yet enwrapped her. The ‘ ‘ still small voice ’ ’ 
of Conscience told him it did, but the light worried 
him; he was not satisfied. Just as he was ready to 
start, Mr. Jones appeared at the door, demanding to 
see him. “Patrick, I see you are in a hurry, so I will 
not delay you long. I absolutely had to see you,” he 
confessed. 

“Talk fast. What is it, Jones?” commanded Patrick. 

“Well, to make a long story short, a bewildering 
event occurred last night. I felt that dreadful thing 
called delirium tremens coming on me and I wanted to 
be with you, but before I left your sitting room I was 
sober. Before I reached the hotel I was as light as the 
air—cured. I tried to drink several times and I can’t 
taste the stuff. Besides that, I am regenerated—all 
made over like Amy Gracia—I tell you I am a different 
man. I don’t understand it, Patrick. Do you?” 


— 77 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

“Yes, I understand it,” answered Paul, “but I can’t 
break my appointments to tell you. To be plain with 
you, Jones, all I can say will be about the Science of 
Christianity. If you are yet prejudiced toward Science 
you stand in the same relation to the spiritual world 
that St. Paul stood when he started in his legality (?) 
to Damascus to persecute the Christians. You have no 
papers, but if the Constitution of this great land of ours 
legalized it, the officers would have your support, which 
is similar to the Roman idolatry and infidelity charac¬ 
terized in the persecution. When Jesus was healing the 
sick there was a man who had suffered thirty-five years, 
and a woman eighteen years with infirmities. The Mas¬ 
ter said: ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are 
heavy laden and I will give you rest.’ Don’t you sup¬ 
pose he included those poor sick mortals who had spent 
all their life, strength and substance to get well? If 
they were not heavy laden, who were? Did they not 
give medicine a fair trial ? Jones, I love your soul. * If ^ 
you will let me, I’ll give you a cup of fresh water in 
Christ’s name and you will feel the peace that passeth 
all understanding. God used Paul’s brilliancy and 
wealth for His own glory. He would use yours if you 
would let Him. Come back to see me at eight o’clock 
this evening; we will have it all out in the biggest visit 
we have ever known.” 

“God bless you, Patrick! You are the only person 
that ever told me he loved my soul. I didn’t know one 
belonged to me. But I’ll not blame others for not do¬ 
ing the good that I have never done either, for it was 
as much my business as it was theirs. He is making the 
same demand of me to do right that he is of you. I 
am not prejudiced to anything. I thought of leaving 
the city, Patrick; but I’ll stay and do exactly what you 


— 78 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

say,” he eagerly assented. This intervention consumed 
Patrick’s spare minutes. He asked his sister to drive 
him to his work, visit Ethel to let him know how she 
was feeling, etc. Mrs. Alfred joined heartily in the re¬ 
quest. He soon stepped out of the car at the bank. 
“Sis, remember we must have a personal report instead 
of the phone today,” he instructed as he backed away 
from the car. 

Mrs. Alfred found a great surprise at the hotel. Miss 
Ernestine had not closed her eyes in sleep. The light 
was with her. She had moved her office into the room 
adjoining her bedroom and had employed a maid who 
would look after material needs. She thought it wise 
to do her work at the desk, by the aid of the maid and 
the phone. She was not alarmed or disconcerted in the 
least—she was merely being led to avoid idle spectators. 

Mrs. Alfred studied the situation. “Ethel, your 
cheerfulness is a rebuke to me,” she said. 

“You are cheerful, too,” returned Miss Ernestine. 
“The reign of Conscience established in our conscious¬ 
ness, setting us free from the bondage of sin and dis¬ 
ease, makes us cheerful.” 

“Mr. Jones thinks he was completely healed of the 
whisky habit last night and was at the house by the 
time we had eaten breakfast to tell Paul about it. He 
made an engagement to come back tonight. You should 
have heard Paul preaching the gospel to him. Once 1 
grew afraid Paul was too severe, but the more he 
preached the more scientific he became,” related Mrs. 
Alfred. 

“Was Mr. Jones receptive?” asked the practitioner. 

“Yes, and very grateful, too,” answered the other. 

“Ethel, Paul is manifesting a great deal of anxiety 
for you. Sometimes people make mistakes—one in a 


— 79 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

lifetime—God is not going to let him make that one 
again. He loves you dearly.” 

“I am going to help him overcome the anxiety. I 
am also asking divine Conscience to guide us and I 
know He will. When His children ask for bread He 
does not give them a stone. When there is a difference 
between two persons both of them need treatment—the 
one in the wrong needs the healing prayer, the one in 
the right needs the prayer of sustenance and praise, 
that he may hold out faithfully until they are both 
blessed in the correction, yet I cannot say that Paul 
and I have had a difference. Does he consider it sim¬ 
ilar ? ’’ 

“I think not; but, my dear, you have benefited us 
in a way we can never repay. We would be glad to do 
more for you if you will accept it. If the maid does 
not want permanent employment, Paul and I will meal 
at the hotel and I will be your maid. The yardman 
may look after himself for a while; the change will be 
good for us anyway,” offered Mrs. Alfred as she arose 
to go. 

“Now, your generosity rebukes me. I have never 
heard it equaled. Go(o)d leads us in making good 
offers; also in accepting them. My benefit toward you 
needs no repay. It is already paid. Wait until I finish 
this note,” she said. A minute later she gave Mrs. Al¬ 
fred the note, asking her to give it to Paul. 

Mrs. Alfred drove directly to the bank, had a short 
interview with Paul, and handed him the note, which 
he read aloud: “Paul, your work is too strenuous for 
you to devote much of your thinking toward me unless 
I were sick or in great distress. For the present, please 
permit me to suggest your method of helping me. You 
and Mrs. Alfred abide implicitly in my management of 


— 80 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

my own case. If I find I am on the wrong road I shall 
obediently turn to the right one. Fear hath no dwelling 
here. I am knowing you cannot be apprehensive. Keep 
your promise to meet Mr. Jones. Your help for him 
means help for you and glory for the source of all 
Go(o)d,” slipping the note into his pocket as he fin¬ 
ished its reading. 

At eight o’clock Mr. Patrick and Mr. Jones were 
seated in the former’s library. “Patrick,” began Mr. 
Jones, “I have done more clerical work today than I 
often do in a week; have been well and joyful all day. 
Do you reckon I’ll ever want any more whisky? I hope 
the appetite will never come back to me, because I can 
be of so much more use to myself, my family and my 
friends. I am serious about it, Patrick. I am dis¬ 
gusted with myself for having insisted on your drinking 
that dram. How did you get by with it?” 

“I cannot confess to all the details. The lady who 
spent last evening with us is a Christian Science prac¬ 
titioner. Drink and its concomitants are d(evil)s. She 
turned her consciousness of Go(o)d’s laws in rebuke 
against the d(evil) and I was healed.” 

“Do you say Christian Science did that?” interrupt¬ 
ed Jones. 

“No, I say Go(o)d did it. He is the only healer. 
The Science of Christianity presents a knowledge of 
God’s laws like grammar presents a knowledge of the 
laws, or rules, of language. The practitioner, working 
under divine Wisdom, applied the laws and I (my con¬ 
sciousness) obeyed them. She did the same for you 
(your consciousness) and you obeyed them.” 

“Do you believe that God performs miracles as He 
did two thousand years ago?” interrupted Jones the 
second time. 


— 81 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

“There is no belief in it, or theory. It is practical 
knowledge and proof. We know He does. We see His 
mighty work every day. Do we not need miracles as 
much now as we did then? If Jesus’ teaching was only 
an epoch in history, what was the purpose of the epoch ? 
Was God partial enough to send His son to a select race 
and discontinue the plan of salvation to all the succeed¬ 
ing ages of humanity? Could we attach the thought of 
supremacy to such a God? What is the meaning of 
the word miracle as used before prejudiced scribes copied 
from the parchments into a new translation called the 
Bible?” 

‘‘ Oh, my goodness, Patrick! I never would stand up 
under an examination like that,” ejaculated Jones. 

“I’ll make it easier for you. What is your idea of 
God? That is, what does He look like, where does He 
stay, does He sometimes allow good and sometimes bad, 
with what class of people and under what circumstances 
does He govern?” 

“Why, you are worse than Socrates. I don’t suppose 
I could answer a single question intelligently. More¬ 
over, I could not prove my answer if I gave one.” 

“Then why will you not accept the teaching of a 
Principle that sets forth Go(o)d r s practical government 
of all things, including man? God spoke through the 
consciousness of Isaiah that His creation was not and 
is not in vain,” continued the questioner. 

“I did not know Christian Science does these things 
—presents these laws,” said Jones, becoming more 
thoughtful. 

“The first chapter of Genesis is a true record. The 
second chapter is an allegory. God is Good. All that 
He created is good. He did not make you drink to see 
what He could do with you afterward. He had nothing 


— 82 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

to do with your drinking. You did that under another 
belief. But He had something to do with your healing. 
He was good enough to save you for His own great 
glory. Salvation is the law; anything that is good is 
good forever—everlastingly good.” 

“Hold on, Patrick. You are going too fast. Here 
is my good hat. Will it be good forever?” asked Mr. 
Jones. 

“Your hat is only the manifestation—an effect—of 
a cause, a good idea of a hat. That idea will be an idea 
forever and be a good idea, a good cause. This idea 
was not mine, neither w r as it yours. We did not orig¬ 
inate any idea within ourselves, because our muscles, 
brain included, physically analyzed*, are water and lime. 
Water and lime cannot issue ideas. It is heathenism to 
believe they can. Divine Mind in which ‘we live, move, 
and have our being,’ issues good thoughts—ideas. Bad 
thoughts are in the d(evil) ’s realm; they have no power 
to change good ideas. Hence, if d(evil) has no power 
to change Go(o)d, and Go(o)d is omnipresent, omnipo¬ 
tent, omniscient and omnibeneficent, the d(evil) becomes 
a myth—Jesus called it a lie. A lie is something that 
is not true. If d(evil) is true, Go(o)d will have to be 
the lie, for they are opposites,” thus Patrick ceased his 
argument. 

“How should I begin to try to learn some of this 
gospel, Patrick?” asked Jones. 

“The first, best step to take is to go to a Science 
Reading Room, buy a copy of ‘ Science and Health With 
Key to the Scriptures,’ and read it as a companion 
Commentary with the Bible. Then read any literature 
that expounds metaphysics, begin to put it into prac¬ 
tice as soon as you begin to understand. Anybody who 
is not prejudiced and will read will find ‘a new heaven 


— 83 — 


\ 

Ethel Ernestine 

and a new earth,’ will see the universe, including man, 
in a different light, and begin working out his salva¬ 
tion by ‘casting out d(evil)s, healing the sick, cleansing 
the leper,’ etc. The very first person he has to correct 
is himself in order to practise what he preaches. Mrs. 
Eddy got her information from the Bible. Jones, it 
will make you a gentleman at home and everywhere. I 
was in a company on an ocean steamer in which there 
was a middle-aged couple who had been married some 
twenty summers. Their interchangeable courtliness and 
kindness was as great as if they were a new groom and 
bride. It was not frivolous flattery. It was genuine 
courtliness. They seemed to live the spirit of a host 
and a hostess toward, each other. I have noticed that 
feeling among Scientists a number of times since. No¬ 
body but those trying to obey the laws of Christianity 
have the privilege of living in that constant Christian 
atmosphere; it makes a glorious home. It is a sort of 
constant attitude of ‘my dear Alfonso, and my dear 
Gaston.’ ” 

“ ‘To point that living way, 

To speak the Truth which makes men free, 

To bring that quickening life from heaven, 

Is highest ministry. ’ ’ ’ 

“ ‘The living way’ is the eternal way to live; ‘the 
Truth that makes us free ’ is the healing Spirit of 
Christ; ‘the quickening life’ is the eternal life of har¬ 
mony. What ministry could be higher than the re¬ 
demption of the world from its evil ways?” concluded 
Paul. 

“Patrick, I saw another strange thing last night_so 

strange that I would not tell anybody because there 
might have been something wrong with my eyes. The 


— 84 — 


Ethel Ernestine 


moon was bright and I felt so well that I sat on a curb¬ 
stone a while to think of these miracles, and a car 
passed me. It was not moving very fast, but I did not 
notice the car much. There was a dim golden light 
seemed to hang from mid-air and surround the people 
or one of them in the front seat. Was there a peculiar 
reflector on that car, or what do you suppose that was ? ’ ’ 
wondered Jones. 

'‘I have no idea,” answered Paul (he was telling the 
truth, inasmuch as the light was a puzzle to himself as 
well as to Jones). To have committed himself in one 
instance would have forced him to have disclosed the 
identity of the girl Mr. Jones knew went West; there¬ 
fore, as Ethel did not make herself known the night 
before, he could not afford to for her, so Jones was 
none the wiser. 

“I say right here this is a fine experience for me. 
The healing is not by itself; the spiritual part of it that 
satisfies my soul, and if I can live a different man it’s 
worth everything. That friend of yours must be a won¬ 
derful healer—practitioner is the word, ain’t it?” 

Paul nodded his head in the affirmative. 

“Is she a married woman, Patrick?” asked Jones with 
increasing curiosity. 

“She is very much married to healing the sick,” re¬ 
plied Paul with a jest in his voice and an inclination 
to avert the allusion, because he was confidential with 
only those who could help him metaphysically. 

“Patrick, you are a big dunce! Why don’t you 
marry the girl? Of course, you will always have a 
chance to marry on account of your looks and your 
money, but she and you would make a stunning couple 
both in appearance and usefulness—if you could see it 
that way.” 

— 85 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

“I thank you, Jones; you are very encouraging. 

“Encouraging—nothing. You are foolish when it 
comes to matrimony.” 

“I agree with you absolutely, Jones. I am perfectly 
foolish, but I am going to be wiser some day.” 

“You have been making that speech a long time. Let 
me know when you do. I want to send you a lot of 
good wishes. The hour is growing late. I am mighty 
glad I saw you. You certainly have my thanks for your 
time and explanations. I’ll get the book tomorrow if I 
can find one.” Patrick, giving him a journal and show¬ 
ing him the directory, shook his hand in a cordial 
‘ ‘ good-bye. ’ ’ 


Chapter XV 

The next morning Mr. Patrick called at the office of 
Miss Ernestine before going to his regular work. He 
presented to Eva James, the maid, his card, requesting 
a short conversation with Miss Ernestine, which she 
granted. Mr. Patrick, being half a head taller than his 
companion, could lean toward her and slightly forward 
in a graceful and sympathetic posture. This he did as 
he proceeded with his mission. “Ethel, I see you are 
feeling and looking fine, but my purpose is business.” 

“Go(o)d’s business,” she corrected pleasantly. 

“Certainly, Go(o)d’s business. This light has come 
to you as a guide. Do you still have a sense that your 
burden is too heavy to sleep?” he asked kindly. 

“I have no sense of a burden at all. I cannot sleep 
because I am not reflecting sleep under the influence of 
the light,” answered Ethel, the confidence of which she 
hoped would destroy his seeming gloom. 


— 86 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

“Could you not glorify God as abundantly as you do 
now if you were Mrs. Paul Patrick?” She hesitated 
and he followed the first question with a second: ‘ ‘ What 
would prevent you?” 

“I would hope to honor Him more in continued expe¬ 
rience free from discrepancies. You know, Paul, I do 
not endure discord very well.” 

“Then you have not forgiven me for my uncouthness 
the other night, Ethel; that is what I have been feeling 
with irresistible fear.” 

“I did forgive you, but to think of being or becoming 
your wife the injuries of those brutal threats reverber¬ 
ate; to mortal sense I am hurt, but not from the sense 
caused by the evil of intoxication. It is a different con¬ 
sideration—a more grievous supposition. One false be¬ 
lief of a married life is that it is a human lottery. You 
(your consciousness) are not uncouth, neither is fear 
irresistible. You and I are perfectly agreeable to our 
reciprocal likes and dislikes, yet I shrink from the 
thought of making it possible to be accused or for you 
to find fault with me. I may manifest plenty of faults, 
but they are not healed by abuse. If abuse had been a 
redemptive element all the world would have been re¬ 
deemed. My understanding gives me harmony as a 
better route to eternal Life.” 

The light shone brighter and her spiritual being be¬ 
came unrepudiable, yet Paul realized that a chasm occa¬ 
sioned by wounded feeling to mortal sense waxes deeper 
and harder to cross. “Ethel, our discipleship has to 
be proven again. You do not know how much I am 
trying to heal the breach. You agreed we should speak 
of Go(o)d’s business. There is no hurt in his business 
and no ‘human lottery.’ I would actually be hanged 
rather than abuse you. Are you afraid something will 


- 87 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

happen in our married life that will cause you a world 
of trouble—a something that can’t possibly be? There 
is no fear in my mind that I’ll ever knowingly give you 
one worry. You are not afraid to risk me. I cannot 
endure any such false belief. Faith overcomes fear,” 
was his metaphysical statement. 

“Paul, what do you think that has to do with the 
light?” 

* 1 1 cannot be sure about the light. In my opinion the 
light will accompany you until we are married, or until 
one of us passes on.” 

“If your opinion is true we will have to appeal to 
another practitioner for help. I cannot handle.” 

Paul was not discourteous. Pie merely wanted to 
know her thoughts. “Why can’t you handle it?” he 

demanded concisely. 

“It touches me too completely. It is too vital. I’ll 
employ help. An action involving a lifetime is different 
from healing the sick, ’ ’ she acknowledged, and yet main¬ 
taining her patience, because real Christians find noth¬ 
ing in Deity to discourage them; the law and the prom¬ 
ises of eternal Life are in their favor. 

“I will employ help, too. Have you a preference 
whose counsel I shall ask? The help will come when 
you surrender. Can you be obedient?” added Paul. 

“Make your own selection—only you must get a good 
one. I am more solicitous in the right procedure than 
you can judge. Be assured that I am going to obey my 
mental guidance. My strife is to reflect Go(o)d,” was 
her final supplication. 

“Ethel, is there anything I can do, or any channel 
or avenue, personally, morally or philosophically, 
through which I may come completely into your lovable 
graces—into constant companionship while we are on 


— 88 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

this plane of life? You surely have a stubborn thought 
that you are not admitting. You have a ‘Yes’ or a 
‘No’ in your consciousness. Which is it?” 

“Paul, I have neither a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No.’ Please 
don’t be impatient with me in a time like this. The 
avenues of Love are all open. There are many consid¬ 
erations in points of suitability. I am not an enter¬ 
tainer, or a cook, or a housekeeper. Those diversities 
are fine within themselves, but I could not be efficient 
and learn to do so many various things. I know of 
nothing to do for anybody except to love them, which 
is just a part of the practical work of life. This is my 
part and I am glad to do it. ‘Love and Love’s work 
must fit.’ ” 

“I have acted upon my highest understanding to 
reach those open avenues. Pardon me if I have given 
you another burden. I know you will keep your prom¬ 
ise. If our meat and bread ever depends on your cook¬ 
ing it, I will tell you how and be patient with you until 
you learn it.” 

“Under those conditions it ought not to be hard to 
work,” retorted his hearer in laughter. It had been 
their custom since their first introduction never to allow 
the parting thought to be an unpleasant one, and it was 
not their desire to deviate from as comforting a practice 
as this one had been. With the new plan in view the 
conversation ended. 

The Ambrose family, who had claimed Miss Ernestine 
for an adopted daughter and who had heard from her 
regularly, have resided in Tampa, Florida, for many 
months. “Wife,” said Mr. Ambrose (for that was a 
pet name he gave her, and in a spiritual sense peculiar 
to himself he used it becomingly), as they were seated 


— 89 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

at their breakfast table, “I cannot keep my mind off of 
Miss Ernestine. I believe she needs ns.” 

“Why, father, I could hardly prepare breakfast. She 
has been in my consciousness ever since I woke. I know 
she wants us.” 

“That is the way I feel about it. The children are 
in college. What do you say to our closing up the 
house and taking the first train to Galveston? We 
might spend a month if it is necessary. If we are not 
especially needed, our visit will do no harm. We will 
go if you want to.” 

“I shall be glad to go if you are willing. I will need 
to think fast to get things together.” 

“All right, we will both think and both work. I’ll 
help you,” co-operated her husband. 

Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose worked together instead of 
working apart. They loved to please each other; they 
loved to confide in each other’s intelligence; they loved 
to confess their regard, with the heavenly source thereof. 

In the twilight of the evening following Mr. Pat¬ 
rick’s pressing endeavor to gain his suit with Miss 
Ernestine, he and his sister started to consult the 
former’s special practitioner, though there was no ap¬ 
pointment. Mrs. Alfred, not having seen Miss'Ernes¬ 
tine since early the day before, suggested they call to 
see her a few minutes. Paul appreciated an excuse to 
see Ethel the second time that day. They were enjoy¬ 
ing a merry visit when a porter ushered two newly- 
arrived guests to her office. The knock on the door 
silenced their voices. Miss Ernestine heard them an¬ 
nounce to Miss James the word “Ambrose.” She was 
at the door in an instant to greet them. They were 
Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose from Tampa. Mr. Patrick also 
recognized them—was delighted in their coming. 


— 90 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

•‘Ethel, did you try to get us early yesterday morn¬ 
ing?” asked Mrs. Ambrose. 

“Yes, I see I did get you without wiring or phoning. 
I prayed that you would come.” 

“We heard the mental call and could not stay away. 
We are glad we came, too,” said Mr. Ambrose. 

“Yes, after tonight we will give your maid full pay 
and excuse her for a week so I can be your maid,” 
planned Mrs. Ambrose. 

After exchanging some remarks concerning the recent 
events, they began to talk of at least a night’s rest be¬ 
fore assuming any duties. “Father, we have seen our 
girl now. Suppose we get settled until tomorrow. 
We will have longer visits by and by,” suggested Mrs. 
Ambrose to her husband. 

“Let me have a say in this ‘getting settled.’ My car 
is here and both of you are going out with us and make 
our home your home while you are in Galveston,” pro¬ 
posed Mr. Patrick. 

“You certainly are. There is nothing else to do,” 
joined Mrs. Alfred. 

“We might stay too long. It would be an imposi¬ 
tion,” reasoned Mr. Ambrose. 

“There is no imposition. It is my plan and my pleas¬ 
ure,” urged Paul. 

‘ ‘ Ethel, what do you think 1 Is it too far from you ? ’ ’ 
referred Mrs. Ambrose, who stood with her arm around 
Ethel. 

“Oh, that plan is capital. We can at least try it for 
a day or two,” arbitrated Ethel. The company acted 
accordingly. 

Mr. Patrick escorted the Ambroses to their room, saw 
that their mortal needs were supplied, then went to the 


— 91 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

telephone to obtain another communication from Miss 
Ernestine. 

“Ethel,” he addressed, after the connection, “this is 
Paul talking. We are so grateful over these great peo¬ 
ple being with us that I could not wait longer to thank 
you for coinciding with my invitation. They have been 
my friends, you know, ever since we crossed the Gulf 
together. He has an excellent understanding and is my 
special practitioner for a while—has already agreed. 
Does that meet your approval?” 

“My approval! You are carrying out my idea to a 
letter.’’ 

“I thank you. We will be led to carry it out spir¬ 
itually, too. Good-bye,” and he replaced the receiver 
With another encouraging fulfillment of right thinking 
in his consciousness. 


Chapter XVI 

Gratitude reigned in the lives of these people; a week 
passed by without special development in their seeming 
problems; God performed wonders through the spiritual 
consciousness of Miss Ernestine among her calls for help 
in relieving sin, sickness, poverty, and discord. Mrs. 
Ambrose assisted her. Mr. Ambrose was an interesting 
comrade to Mr. Patrick; he kept himself busily roving 
among the three places—the bank where Paul worked, 
the Patrick residence, and his wife’s charge with Ethel! 
Mrs. Alfred was a veritable entertainer, rejoicingly unit¬ 
ing in the harmony and welfare of all concerned. Two 
or three recent letters were received from Cuba about 
the splendid prosperity of the church there, and Mr. 


— 92 —• 


Ethel Ernestine 


Patrick received a letter from Mr. Jones expressing his 
thankfulness for the Science of Christianity. The let¬ 
ter said in part: “This Science teaches people to con¬ 
duct themselves in such a way that they do not need 
to live a half century before they can live at peace with 
God and man.” He also begged pardon for irrever¬ 
ence and condemnation of the life-giving power of which 
he knew nothing. The letter says further that (‘Science 
and Health/ on page 264) ‘Spiritual living and bless¬ 
edness are the only evidences by which we can recog¬ 
nize true existence and feel the unspeakable peace which 
comes from an all-absorbing spiritual love.’ I believe 
this with all my heart. The way I was living it was 
no wonder I was ignorant of the Christianity of people 
who were living better than I was. Patrick, what that 
practitioner did for me that night can never be paid 
for in dollars and cents, but I don’t want her time and 
talent bestowed on me as a matter of charity. Give her 
this hundred-dollar check I am enclosing. I have paid 
more than that into materia medica for no service at 
all, but the hundred may help maintain the dignity of 
her profession and prove I don’t want something for 
nothing. ’ ’ 

During his lunch hour that day Patrick delivered 
the check. They discussed the contents of the letter. 
He listened to her instruction: “That amount is too 
much. The healing was too instantaneous for that price, 
even if it had come under cases of request. With Mr. 
Jones it is giving in return for receiving; with me it is 
receiving in return for giving. Spending Mind’s money 
for Mind’s needs never impoverishes Mind; moreover, 
Mind, Conscience, is enriched by every action it makes; 
it acts to promote good. Mind, Conscience, body and 
purse are all enriched by the same power—‘operating 


— 93 — 


Ethel Ernestine 


unspent. ’ Divine supply is our purse, the same in earn¬ 
ing as in spending, the same in being paid as in paying; 
‘the quality of mercy is not strained’; it has no power 
against it; divine Life cannot be self-existence without 
being self-supplying; realizing this, we know that ‘all 
is Mind and its infinite manifestation,’ ” explained the 
practitioner, for she knew the Truth concerning her set¬ 
tlements, whether the money was passed from, her or to 
her. ‘ ‘ Paul, you may cut the check into halves. Re¬ 
turn him fifty dollars with special thanks, deposit the 
other to my account.” 

“I shall be pleased with the privilege. I came by 
because I knew you would not accept all of it, and by 
way of parenthesis my errand gives me a chance of 
seeing how well you are,” added Paul, justifying his 
coming unexpectedly. 

Miss James, who was relieved that week of her duties, 
spent the greater part of the week in studying at the 
Science Reading Room. She became a reader of Chris¬ 
tianity over a demonstration in applying laws of Go(o)d 
to a problem of supply. Step by step she accepted the 
scientific teaching and in many phases learned that her 
destitution devolved upon her own ignorance in con¬ 
demning the very source of her existence—ignorance 
which must be eradicated if she expected to secure the 
blessings of ample supply through spiritual means. In 
conversation, after much study, she said: *‘I am be¬ 
ginning to see that in the first place Go(o)d gives com¬ 
fort instead of the lack of comforts. Go(o)d’s spiritual 
idea is exempt from discomforts. Spiritual manifesta¬ 
tion is the law. The spiritual ideas in acknowledging 
Go(o)d in all His ways must manifest whatever he ac¬ 
knowledges. In Psalms we read: ‘Yet have I not seen 
the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread,’ 


—94 


Ethel Ernestine 

‘God’s promises are kept.’ In the next consideration 
the human being must study himself in order to know 
his relation to God, and what he possesses to give in 
return for employment—what he can put into activity 
in order to take something out of it.” 

“You are correct,” said her practitioner, “in divine 
supply there is an adjustment taking place, a meeting 
of needs without a deficit or a surplus. There is an 
adjustment effected by the proper giving work for ac¬ 
cepting work. A surplus is as much an evil as a deficit. 
If human thoughts could have been as commonly thrown 
to the surplus side of the scales as they are to the deficit 
side, the surplus-d(evil) would have been as much a 
bugbear as the deficit-d(evil). Mortals at this time, in 
this age, having much or little to sustain them, do not 
acknowledge its source as Spirit nor recognize its sub¬ 
stance as spiritual. In other words, whatever comes 
from God is godly. If he recognizes its divine nature, 
he must also recognize its inexhaustibleness. Whoever 
finds himself in dire straits has a very good sign that 
he is looking to matter instead of Spirit as substance 
and supply; perhaps to material forms as his object 
and purpose, instead of incorporeal and indissoluble 
forms. ’ ’ 

During the intervening week Patrick and Ambrose 
were engaged in many dialogues regarding Miss Ernes¬ 
tine and her purposeful question as to the course in 
which we can most glorify Go(o)d? The latter’s effort 
was to impart to, and to demonstrate in, the Mind of 
the former, an impersonal, impartial, substantiated coun¬ 
sel of omnipotent Truth. 

“Patrick, be patient and considerate of Ethel. In 
our code of human relations men have much the advan¬ 
tage in this plane of existence. A man may see a lady 


Ethel Ernestine 

friend two or three times and know a great deal more 
of her morals and what he would risk for himself by 
marrying her than she has a chance to know of his 
morals and what she would risk for herself. If you are 
fair and square, as I have every proof in the world to 
believe you are, you will have absolutely nothing to 
risk, but all for which you hope to gain in the consum¬ 
mation of your matrimonial desires; on the other hand, 
if you are unfair you will be woefully disappointed, 
because Ethel will not live under clouds of dishonor. 
She would give you no specific trouble, but you would 
have to live without her.” 

“Under the pressure of discord or disagreement, spir¬ 
itual understanding is a woman’s only defense, and if 
she has not the understanding to exterminate the error, 
she is helpless in correcting the mistake. Then, under 
the pressure of mortal mind’s methods, she either re¬ 
sorts to human endurance or retaliation, neither one of 
which is spiritual. There are two things above all else 
that we must necessarily know beyond all haze and talk: 
First, that there can be no legitimate cause for discord; 
second, that there can be no manifestation of fear, which 
is a lack of faith. There is no more redeeming or saving 
warmth of Go(o)d’s love in fear and discord than there 
is in arrant sin and disease. Fear, envy, and all the ele¬ 
ments opposite to Go(o)d are cold, unredeemable and 
unredemptive; on the other hand, faith and the elements 
of Go(o)d abound in the warmth of His loving kind¬ 
ness. In my mind there is no greater glory to Go(o)d 
than a union of these two elements, faith and harmony 
(which goes without saying, minus the fear and dis¬ 
cord). Ethel has seen too often the effect of a false 
belief of lust trying to operate in place of a true belief 
of reflected love. The false belief means infatuation to- 


— 96 —■ 


Ethel Ernestine 


day, infuriation tomorrow, each pretense leaving the 
field of error harder to conquer than it was previously. 
In addition to her observations, she looks backward upon 
her maidenhood as if it were a clean slate. She has 
committed no disgraces, no matrimonial engagements, 
no flirtation and no frivolous waste of time, although 
she has had chances to marry. She could have married 
an immensely rich and scholarly man, but she gave him 
no encouragement because he was unreliable; she never 
knew when he was telling her the truth. Her livelihood 
has been one of application to honest activities. She 
values things of the Spirit higher than those of matter, 
and when she takes a glimpse into the future she tries 
to see the same clean slate even more polished and bright¬ 
ened in order for it to shine in the minds of miserable 
beings to make them happy. There was a time when 
she would have thought of you, perhaps, although she 
would not have renewed her association with you if you 
had not searched your way through to the Science of 
Christianity. She has crossed a large part of the ocean 
of false belief into the flowing streams of Love’s infinite 
good, which has transformed her being, renewed her 
mind into the regenerated consciousness announced by 
its Creator. When one’s mind is thus renewed, that 
mind cannot degenerate into old beliefs any more than 
immortality can lapse into mortality, or intelligence into 
ignorance; that is, she cannot retreat backward over the 
part of the ocean of false beliefs; her friends must cross 
to her. That was the fixed gulf between the rich man 
and Lazarus—the gulf of Spirit to Lazarus; to the rich 
man it was false beliefs—sin, error, hell. Another prac¬ 
titioner would do well in Tampa. Six months ago Miss 
Ernestine declined an opportunity to move her office to 
Tampa because you had moved here on her account. 

— 97 — 


Ethel Ernestine 


The Cubans would rejoice at her locating with them 
permanently. There are many places she could go, but 
I realize she could never go away from your spiritual 
attitude toward her. There is really no trouble in the 
affair. All the trouble there is is borrowed, and it is 
giving way to the most perfect peace that man can con¬ 
ceive. ’ ’ 

The men were sitting in the porch swing, with their 
arms around each other. Mr. Ambrose noticed Paul's 
voice was full of tears, but he felt as if they were tears 
of joy instead of grief. “Patrick," continued Ambrose, 
“I am sure you cannot be offended at what I am say¬ 
ing, because I love you sincerely. I should like very 
much indeed to be instrumental in making your path¬ 
way bright; if my discernment is correct, we will see 
Miss Ernestine become Mrs. Patrick before we leave 
here. ’ ’ 

“How could I be offended at such thoughts as you 
have expressed?" asked Paul between broken sighs. “To 
make my pathway brighter will be to eliminate any pos¬ 
sible chance of discord on my part and the lack of faith 
on her part." 

“The elimination of those d(evil)s is what I am try¬ 
ing hardest to accomplish. They are both outside of 
harmony and outside of Christianity. If the govern¬ 
ment of Love is established within your mentalities you 
will never experience either danger. I have not the 
smallest degree of an inclination to pry curiously, but 
I might see the Truth clearer if you will tell me what 
provocation Ethel gave you for those accusations the 
night the light enveloped her." 

“Ambrose, it irritates me to think of that. I wish 
you would not mention it. She does not know what 
provocation is. She did not give me any." 


— 98 — 


Ethel Ernestine 

“I have no conception of what an intoxicated mind 
is like unto; I can’t conceive of such ebullitions in this 
case. I would have no hope to press on if I could not 
see the power of Go(o)d over evil; that power of Go(o)d 
was present and was doing its work,” spoke Mr. Am¬ 
brose, resuming the scientific thought. 

“In the Science of Christianity there are no offenses. 
They are relegated to the shore of false beliefs—as false 
as the thought of ghosts. In Luke 17:1 Jesus says: ‘It 
is impossible but that offenses will come; but woe unto 
him through whom they come.’ I feel as if I would 
not spitefully and intentionally offend anybody under 
any circumstances; it is my own offenses that I am 
failing to relegate. When I am so off my guard as to 
let the d(evil) come in on me, unpremeditated and un¬ 
awares, to offend a being whom Go(o)d has sent into 
my life, it is more than my understanding can destroy. ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ In the realm of metaphysics it is already destroyed; 
offense could not enter her true consciousness, which is 
the image of Go(o)d; the Creator does not contain that 
kind of merchandise. You have relegated it to the 
shore of false beliefs, but you are giving it as much 
power under that name as you are giving to the true 
beliefs. The opposite to what is true'cannot be true 
or hang on in its operation if we have no faith in it. 
The unreality has no existence in the realm of reality; 
the lie has no existence in the realm of Truth. It is 
not a part of you, or of Go(o)d, or of your God-given 
friends, and since Go(o)d is infinite there is nothing 
else for it to be a part. It has disappeared from con¬ 
sciousness, .leaving harmony, the kingdom of heaven and 
all of us on the right shore,” interpreted the counselor. 

“We do not need to conceive of d(evil). It is the 
cause and conception of evil that we have to destroy to 


— 99 —■ 


Ethel Ernestine 

make room in our feeble minds for the conception of 
Go(o)d,” argued Paul, unwavering from the base line 
of Principle. 

“You are absolutely right in your application of the 
law of God. There is no power that can resist that 
law, ” agreed Mr. Ambrose. 


Chapter XVII 

Meanwhile Mr. Patrick was unable to carry on his 
work regularly at the bank. He felt a serious attack 
of regurgitation. At last he asked for a short absence 
and was driven home almost helpless. Miss Ernestine 
temporarily referred her patients to another practitioner 
in order to give her incessant thinking to the attack 
which d(evil) was making on Paul. She called Miss 
James back on duty. Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose, being 
ready and capable nurses, were giving Mr. Patrick and 
Mrs. Alfred their entire attention. Mrs. Alfred thought 
their brother, Mr. Felix Patrick, of Nashville, should 
know Paul’s condition and informed him by wire. 

Apparently, to all mortal sense, Paul continued un¬ 
conscious. Miss Ernestine knew that the testimony of 
Paul’s water-and-lime body had nothing to do with his 
life; she knew that his spiritual soul was as conscious 
and alert as it ever was; she knew that every organ of 
his body was a spiritual idea of God and under the law 
of its maker was forced to obey its purpose; she knew 
that the supreme, infinite Creator could not set aside 
His creation to be ruled by a suppositious power; she 
knew that the water-and-lime man could not hold life 
in his own hands by dictating terms of health, because 


- 100 - 


Ethel Ernestine 


Go(o)d’s laws could not be abolished; water and lime 
are important chemicals in God’s universe, but as mat¬ 
ter they possess no energy with which to germinate 
God’s idea or to destroy the idea—they are not con¬ 
scious embodiments. Jeremiah puts it: “I know that 
the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man 
that walketh to direct his steps.” She knew that the 
fetters of false beliefs must fall in the presence of the 
Truth that health and life are positive facts. She was 
not merely rehearing certainties as if they were mean¬ 
ingless words; she was understanding^ applying the 
Truth of what she was saying. 

When Mr. Felix Patrick arrived that Saturday after¬ 
noon Paul did not arouse other than to recognize him. 
Felix knew they were Scientists. At times he would 
have liked to have possessed the faith they had, but he 
did not, so he said: “I have not come to criticize any 
methods you are pursuing, yet a doctor’s examination 
will do Paul no harm and I shall be more satisfied to 
consult one. If you don’t care to call a doctor, tell me 
a leading one and I will call him.” 

Mrs. Alfred, with the agreement that Paul was not 
to be drugged, gave him information of one, who came 
at once and examined Paul thoroughly. He announced: 

‘ ‘ Resting well, no pain, no fever, circulation fairly good, 
waste secretion fine—has great chance to be up soon.” 
At Felix’s request the doctor prolonged his visit and 
watched the patient rather closely. In about two hours 
he called Mr. Felix aside to tell him: /‘Your brother 
is dying. The heart is treacherous and materia medica 
has found very little to do in a case like this.” 

Circulation did seem to stop, and breathing was not 
visible. Mrs. Alfred collapsed, then immediately re¬ 
vived. Mr. Ambrose never left his mental post or Paul’s 


—101— 


Ethel Ernestine 

bedside; his wife stood sometimes by him, sometimes by 
Mrs. Alfred, and sometimes at the phone getting Miss 
Ernestine’s message: “Life is present; Paul is not 
dead. He can’t die. Keep working, believing, and ex¬ 
pecting living Life to act,” came her voice. It was so 
calm and clear that relatives and friends sitting in the 
room heard it and were alarmed. 

The doctor left the residence to secure an undertaker, 
who came to take charge of the body. When he felt the 
body he could not detect signs of life, still he had an 
acute sense of touch in handling the dead and Paul’s 
flesh had the queerest feeling he had ever felt. He pre¬ 
ferred waiting a little while. 

A part of the time Miss Ernestine walked the floor 
of her office rebuking d(evil) aloud. This glorious light 
was at its brightest. She was not always conscious of 
the light, but she was at this particular time. The 
undertaker started again to examine the body, but he 
could not touch it. For an instant his vision left him. 
He felt a guidance* that life was there. Mr. and Mrs. 
Ambrose abode in Ethel’s discernment and understood 
God’s spiritual idea is alive. 

Another hour passed. The undertaker was near the 
bed, too. Mrs. Ambrose took down the receiver and 
immediately came the practitioner’s voice again: ‘ ‘ The 
only thing that is dead is death—the false belief. ‘A 
bubble is air, full' of air, and surrounded by air. ’ Paul 
is Life, full of Life, and surrounded by Life—living, 
active Life.” 

A soft silvery light enshrouded the bed and Paul 
awoke. The light slowly vanished and he spoke, re¬ 
peating Mrs. Eddy’s definition for obedience: “Never 
absent from your post, never off guard, never ill- 


—102— 


Ethel Ernestine 

humored, never unwilling to work for God—is obedi¬ 
ence.’ ’ (Miscellaneous Writings, page 116.) 

“Patrick, you have been pretty low,” jollied the un¬ 
dertaker. 

“My friend, that is just your opinion of it. My ele¬ 
vation is exalted. My spirit is higher than it has ever 
been. Eternal Life is the highest thought there is,” 
admonished Paul, as he raised himself up in bed. 

By this time his brother and sister were near him, 
and watching Paul grow well and calm, they grew calm, 
too, begging him to rest and be quiet and to let them 
wait on him. 

“You people are fine nurses. I have been in good 
hands that obey the spiritual hands—the significance of 
which is spiritual power,” Paul commented. 

“God is mighty in thought and in action; we would 
have given up if our girl had not kept telephoning the 
steadfastness of divine Truth,” conceded Mrs. Ambrose. 

“It’s no wonder we love her. It seems as if she has 
brought us out of all our wilderness of doubt and dark¬ 
ness into the promised land of faith and sunshine. We 
lean on her in all our trials; she is a comfort to us in 
sickness and in health; she is the channel for all we 
know concerning our salvation,” remarked Mrs. Alfred. 

As soon as Paul was healed the cook slipped to the 
phone and fairly shouted: “Miss Ernestine, he is well 
and talking. Don’t it alarm you? They are all so glad 
over him and talking to him. I wanted to be first to 
tell you. I know you are happy as we are. Good-bye. ’ ’ 
She then replaced the receiver and in her hilarity said: 
“Law, that woman must be fine. All she said was, ‘I 
thank'you, I thank you,’ and just laughed and laughed 
in my ears. This is the best place I was ever in. It 


—103— 


Ethel Ernestine 

shore seems like heaven,” disappearing to the kitchen 
as her merriment rang through the house. 

“If it were not for that light I would send the car 
for her. I am well. There is nothing to prevent my 
going to see her,” deliberated Paul. 

^Don’t go,” interfered his brother. “I’ll take the 
car. Go tell her the good news and how blessed we are. 
If she can come I will bring her back with me. The 
yardman will go with me.” He suited the action to 
the word and was not long in making the trip, but she 
could not come. He told them the following message: 
“She says not to give her any praise at all. Keep per¬ 
sonality out of the way, and not to rob God of the glory, 
‘lest a greater sin come upon-us.’ The other day she 
wrote to her Science teacher in Denver that gave her 
class instruction, and he is on the train to Galveston; 
she expects him any minute. I tried to remember her 
words and suppose you understand what they mean 
better than I do. Miss Ernestine looks surprisingly 
youthful and well, but the maid says she rarely eats or 
sleeps. Those are not bad indications, for she may eat 
to live and the maid may be used to people who live 
to eat. Amount of sleep is different, too. Her wakeful 
hours may be extremely few.” 

“I must relate a conversation I overhead. It’s con¬ 
siderably on my mind and half vexed me. The hotel 
lobby was crowded with men dismissed from some busi¬ 
ness meeting. The doctor and the undertaker told in 
a few statements the straight story of this case. At 
first the doctor was excited, then said: ‘The Science 
of Christianity is the only Christianity and the best 
movement there is in the world, but if I were to tell 
my patients that I might as well bring down my M.D. 
sign. I don’t know how to earn a living in Science. 


—104— 


Ethel Ernestine 


To get the benefit out of a conviction you have to live 
the conviction. The real Scientists live theirs to a large 
extent and their lives are testimonies of their faith; 
moreover, if I were as honest as Scientists are, I could 
not earn a living in materia medica. My wife was healed 
in Science, but we don’t ever acknowledge it. It is no 
use to condemn the faith—we don’t get any place with 
abuses; that advertises Science to the honest thinker 
who wants to think for himself. Preachers have tried 
condemnation for fifty years, but they have only blighted 
their own souls until they can’t even stir up a revival. 
Although we can’t admit it. The best thing to be done 
is to ignore the whole Christian Science movement and 
its followers. ’ He made some other assertions, the mean¬ 
ing of which I did not catch. That was a-plenty for 
me.” 

At the end of this recital Mr. and Mrs. Ambrose, 
Paul and his sister were participants in boisterous 
laughter. To them he had told a huge joke. 

“Paul, it does me good to see you laugh, but I am 
surprised at your fun. I had the impression that 
Scientists take their religion right seriously,” said Mr. 
Felix, catching their jovial mood. 

“We regard Christianity very seriously, but religion 
and criticism are not always Christianity, and our bless¬ 
ings through Christianity a^e too rapturous for any 
mournfulness, therefore our gratitude keeps us cheer¬ 
ful,” explained Paul. 

“How do you dispose of the common criticism that 
Scientists pray to Mrs. Eddy?” was the next point of 
interest. 

“We dispose of it as Jesus taught us to do. He called 
it a lie. Mrs. Eddy was an inspired writer. Moses, the 
prophets, and St. Paul were inspired. No one thinks 

—105— 


Ethel Ernestine 

of saying we pray to the earlier writers, yet we study 
their inspirations. All inspired Truth coming to the 
world to redeem humanity is a revelation from God. 
Persons through whom Truth is revealed are channels 
of God ‘to seek and to save that which is lost.’ Mrs. 
Eddy was the channel for the re-establishment of the 
laws of Christianity—laws inspired and revealed to save 
humanit 3 r —‘to awaken to the practical nature of the 
divine idea’ is the ‘new birth’—a birth which has no 
death,” concluded Paul. 

“Those arguments are not objectionable to me. You 
must be an advanced student, and I begin to see why 
those criticisms sound ridiculous to you, ” acknowledged 
the visiting brother. 

“The Science of Christianity is like all other great 
movements in one respect,” justified Mr. Ambrose, who 
could seldom hear a discussion on that subject without 
adding his acknowledgment, “a proof that Go(o)d longs 
to express itself. Divine Science has come to us through 
a part of the highest intelligence that the race affords. 
All the electrical achievement, successful inventions, lit¬ 
erary attainment, improved machinery, modern agricul¬ 
ture, new transportation, utilization of resources, accom¬ 
plishments of fine arts, and all the other useful move¬ 
ments to mankind have come to us through some form 
of intelligence; ignorance is not a producer and could 
not have made anything. (It sometimes works in the 
opposite direction and that is why it is called evil.) 
That is a proof that Intelligence, Mind, when applied 
rightly, is the most useful thing there is, and is the 
highest source there is. These good effects also prove 
Intelligence, Mind, to be wholly good. They also prove 
their goodness by furnishing livelihood, or supply, for 
God’s children. Thus we see back of effects, Intelli- 


—106— 


Ethel Ernestine 

gence, or Mind, to be infinite Go(o)d. Mrs. Eddy, as 
well as other celebrities, was brilliant and learned.” 

Mr. Felix Patrick listened very attentively and when 
Mr. Ambrose had finished his statements the former ad¬ 
mitted the legitimacy of these facts: “They are beyond 
me, and I am in the minority of this group,” he also 
admitted. 


Chapter XVIII 

Miss Ernestine and her teacher were in her office— 
she at her desk and he in a comfortable rocker. She 
rehearsed her reasons for wanting his instruction. 

“Miss Ernestine,” he began, “I am sure you have 
gained the ground in understanding that enables you 
to say to your acquaintances, and especially your suitor, 
as many others have said: ‘With all your faults I love 
you still. ’ ” She laughed outright because she fre¬ 
quently did when she saw d(evil) disappearing. The 
man continued his reasoning. “That means more than 
it sounds, for if you are as ‘Wise as serpents and harm¬ 
less as doves’ you can extinguish the faults before they 
extinguish you.” He possessed a natural ingenuous 
cleverness for repartee that was inimitable. 

“Our Discoverer has set us an infallible example in 
peace-making and peace-keeping. She refused to be 
drawn into any controversy, but she lifted up the Christ- 
idea, applied the laws of Principle, and counseled the 
way through Truth. Of course, this is not a contro¬ 
versy. The problem, will admit the application of her 
unadulterated example. Jesus gave it to us before she 
did, so the Lord must expect us to use it. Can we do 


—107— 


Ethp:l Ernestine 

likewise ? It was the Christ-idea that said, I am the 
light of the world; he that followeth me shall not walk 
in darkness.’ How can we follow Him? How can we 
do His deeds if we refuse to think His thoughts? He 
called everything opposed to good a lie. We would 
never fail in following Him—in demonstrating Go(o)d 
—if it were not a suppositious consciousness of a power 
opposed to good. The testimony of the physical senses 
or any testimony that speaks evil comes under this sup¬ 
posed power, but the ‘new creature’ in Christ knows 
nothing except the evidence and testimony of Go(o)d. 
We have resolved in our hearts, with St. Paul, that: 
‘Neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, 
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor 
height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able 
to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ 
Jesus our Lord.’ Now, if any one name in this list, or 
in any other list, belonging to the d(evil), gives us 
trouble, just that far it is separating us from the love 
of God, and we fail to accept our share of the kingdom 
of heaven—the kingdom of harmony. The ‘new crea¬ 
ture’ knows that the Christ-idea is speaking through his 
consciousness to destroy all that is unlike the Christ- 
idea. This is healing. It is overcoming d(evil) with 
good. To reach the high goal of understanding the 
human will must surrender to the divine will, or we 
fail to become ‘new creatures’ whom, Jesus said, ‘Can 
do the works that I do.’ ” 

“It is always appropriate to discuss the sense of for¬ 
giveness. It makes more demands on us than any of 
the commandments. To forgive false senses, various 
forms of error and human shortcomings does not mean 
to merely overlook it, or pass it by undisturbed, or 
shyly sidle around its subtlety. There is no forgiveness 


—108— 


Ethel Ernestine 

aside from elimination; therefore, the destruction, in the 
mind of the practitioner, of whatever the wrong sense 
may be is forgiveness. No treatment is replete unless 
it contains the sense of forgiveness (destruction of evil). 
Our understanding is given according to the Father’s 
forgiveness (destruction of error) in answer to our im¬ 
portunity. If we are forgiven much, we understand 
much; that is, false sense is destroyed in our conscious¬ 
ness; Truth fills the vacancy; understanding much, we 
love much; without forgiveness (destruction of false 
sense), we love little and are constantly committing 
blunders in the sight of Christian Principle. An incre¬ 
ment in forgiveness (elimination of false sense) is also 
an increment in understanding and an increment in 
love and loving. The Master forgave by destroying sin. 
If we do likewise we will be ‘faithful to rebuke, ready 
to forgive.’ Standing by the Truth in the face of all 
that looks ugly and bad gains harmony. Sticking to 
our knowledge of Principle prepares our mind for 
greater intelligence. To Intelligence there is no dis¬ 
appointment, or decline, or disadvantage. Holding fast 
to the understanding which we have already attained 
gives us grace to attain a higher knowledge and grace 
to hold fast to a higher sense of God and man. Only 
upon His wisdom reflected are we able to stand above 
the conflicting foes of oppression, sin, et cetera. It is 
the Divine wending and permeating its being into the 
channels of our minds, persuading us that nothing can 
separate us from Go(o)d. The clear understanding of 
each declaration is standing where we arrive. It rents 
the misty veil. The d(evil) cannot stand where Truth 
stands, and the law is, we stand for Truth because it 
stands for us.” 

In the early part of the evening Paul thought he 


—109— 


Ethel Ernestine 


would like to consult Miss Ernestine’s teacher and 
phoned her to see if he could make arrangements to 
that effect. It was agreed that at ten o’clock her teacher 
should go to spend the night with Paul, and Mr. and 
Mrs. Ambrose should come to the hotel. Mrs. Alfred 
and her visiting brother took advantage of the occasion 
for a long chat. His curiosity was aroused about Miss 
Ernestine, because he had been kept in the dark con¬ 
cerning her and Paul’s recent acquaintance. He dared 
not ask Paul so soon after his recovery for fear their 
affairs had something to do with his illness, and yet 
he did not understand, for it seemed as if their mutual¬ 
ity had more to do with Paul’s healing. 

“Felix, don’t hurt Paul’s feelings. He is the finest 
man you ever saw. We would not have told you false¬ 
hoods about Ethel, but since you were not interested 
sufficiently to ask of her, Paul preferred to solve the 
problem in Christianity, because we are not ashamed 
of trying to do right. To accomplish what seemed to 
be his allotted task he committed himself to only three 
or four Scientists whom he thought might help him,” 
excused his sister. 

“I am not a Scientist—maybe I am a matchmaker. 
If she is the girl I have in mind she has virtues to 
which a man could cling forever and never be deceived. 
Paul ought to marry, settle down, and be sensible. 
Though he is right, he will help conduct a happy home 
or none at all. I once thought there is nothing to love 
affairs, but a better way to look at it is that the Chris¬ 
tian love in the affairs is all there is in them. I’ll be 
careful what I say. We folks in Nashville feel envious 
of you and Paul because we never see you. If I have 
my way you are both going home with me for a while. ’ ’ 

‘ ‘ Paul is settled down—as you say. He has not gone 
—no— 


Ethel Ernestine 


with any other girl since he was on the Western coast. 
I have cheerfully kept his secrets; that is the only way 
in which I could help him. We are proving our disci- 
pleship in that as well as in other circumstances. I 
think they will marry sometime.” 

“Sometime!” repeated Felix, shaking his head dubi¬ 
ously. “Did he go out there to see her? Why, that 
has been so long ago I had forgotten it.” 

“Not as long as it seems,” reminded Mrs. Alfred. 

The Ambroses knew that things were working to¬ 
gether for Go(o)d and Go(o)d’s glory. They and Ethel 
discussed divine laws, recent demonstrations, and how 
adequately they had been proven, until after one o’clock 
and the former retired. Toward the dawn of the morn¬ 
ing the light enshrouding the latter disappeared and 
she grew stupid. She instructed Miss James to not 
wake her if she fell asleep; then she reclined on the 
bed with “Science and Health, With Key to the Scrip¬ 
ture,” by Mary Baker Eddy, in her hand, and without 
undressing, which had been her custom through several 
wakeful days and nights. 

It was Sunday morning and at the breakfast hour 
Miss James found her employer soundly asleep and the 
book on the floor. She conferred with Mr. and Mrs. 
Ambrose concerning the matter. 

“That is a fine report. We shall not disturb her this 
morning,” was their further instruction to Miss James. 

“I have one request to make—that you absent your¬ 
selves from church and stay near, so if I need you there 
will be no delay in coming in,” expressed the girl. 

“Certainly, we shall remain here close. However, let 
us have no fear. Love is in the world to cast out fear. 
The laws of Go(o)d have to be lived and lived to the 
extent that the human being may suffer death, if need 
—in— 


Ethel Ernestine 

be, for His glory, rather than forfeit obedience to the 
laws,” answered Mrs. Ambrose. 

“Yes, and in true obedience forfeiture is translated 
back into Spirit. ‘God brings back His own.’ If we 
have no faith we are more asleep than Miss Ernestine 
is, because the faithless are spiritually asleep, which is 
worse than to be physically asleep. The Scripture says: 
‘Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, 
and Christ shall give thee light. ’ It does not mean the 
physically dead. Eternal Life is our Life. We are 
dead (or alive) in proportion to our knowledge of God. 
If we are alert to rise from the dead (the sense of evil), 
Christ will be our light. The darkness becomes dead. 
Dead things are no things. The only death there is, is 
the death of the mortal, temporal—evil,” supplied Mr. 
Ambrose to strengthen Miss James in her reasoning. 

The Patricks had experienced a most enjoyable and 
beneficial evening, also the morning. The teacher had 
set forth the facts of being; he had shown them the 
difference in ‘ ‘ the law and the gospel ”; he explained 
our reaching the kingdom of heaven by giving all power 
to good; he proved to them that infinite harmonious 
consciousness is heaven, a state of mind—not a locality; 
he showed them that the promises must be fulfilled 
through righteous thinking instead of through unright¬ 
eous thinking; that good is a positive fact; that the 
human will, surrendering to the divine, wins a victory 
for Truth; that no evil or lustful purpose can enter the 
realm of good; that matter cannot create and is not 
self-existent; that a fountain cannot send out “both 
sweet and bitter water”; that wrong-thinking and its 
manifestations are “the old man and his deeds”; that 
“God’s will is sweetest when it triumphs at His cost”; 
that the Christ-idea, speaking through the human con- 


—112— 


Ethel Ernestine 

sciousness, is His cost—and we must not hinder such 
speaking. 

They insisted on the teacher breakfasting with them. 
After the meal was eaten he suggested that he, and 
they, too, if they preferred, should be transferred to 
the other end of the line—that is, to Miss Ernestine’s 
home. 

“That is where I am going as soon as I am ready,” 
Paul assured. 

“I am going. I should like to see her again before I 
leave,” joined Felix. They looked at their sister to 
hear what she intended to do. 

“I would not think of anything else except going 
with you. Then if any of us want to attend church we 
may go from there,” concurred Mrs. Alfred. 

They reached the hotel lobby at nine-thirty. Mr. 
Ambrose met them there and told them Miss Ernestine’s 
orders; they ascended to her office quietly. When she 
was wakeful they wanted her to sleep; now she is asleep 
a mist of fear came over them, and they, like the dis¬ 
ciples in the ship, wanted her to speak. Paul did not 
tarry in the office; he went promptly to Ethel’s bedside, 
put his arm under her shoulders to lift her as he straight¬ 
ened her pillow. He tried to feel her pulse, but in his 
anxiety he failed to find any. His sorrowful outburst 
was such a vociferous wail that it brought the inmates 
close. Ethel aroused. In his violent lamentation he 
commanded his peace enough to say in rapid succes¬ 
sion: “Ethel, are you passing on? Ethel, are you 
leaving me?” 

“Paul,” came her soothing voice, “I am not passing. 
Wake me up. What’s the matter? Soul and its infi¬ 
nite manifestation never regurgitates.” 

“Ethel, I am well. Leave my treatment and work 


—113— 


Ethel Ernestine 

for yourself if you can. You were so lifeless that I 
thought you were dead. I can’t live very long without 
you,” coaxed Paul as he sat beside her on the bed to 
brace her while she was overcoming her numbness. 

“Miss Ernestine, you are the apple of Paul’s eye— 
the ‘flower of his heart.’ You mean a great deal to one 
another—more, I am afraid, than you realize. He ex¬ 
pects nor requires nothing of you in return for his 
adoration, but takes everything good for granted. That 
is the truest Love I have ever seen. I would like to 
call you sister while I am here,” persuaded Mr. Felix 
Patrick. 

“Your adopted parents are willing; they will not 
give you away. Paul will be readily accepted as an 
adopted son,” smilingly proposed Mr. Ambrose. 

She either had not recovered or was manifesting 
symptoms of relapse into drowsiness, and Paul was 
watching her instead of noticing what was being said, 
for his discernment was that they barely reached her 
in time to heal her. 

“Miss Ernestine,” her teacher addressed her, “I have 
come over all the mental road from creation, and over 
the manifested road from Denver, to help. It seems as 
if there must be a short ceremony officiated. Are you 
willing? And are you ready?” 

She stood as if to regain a natural wakefulness. Paul 
stood, too, and held her hands clasped in his against 
his breast as he declared his intentions of a firm reso¬ 
lution: “Ethel, I am reminded of David’s saying, ‘My 
tears have been my meat day and night while they con¬ 
tinually say unto me, Where is thy God?’ I am not 
manifesting a greed for wealth—I never did. However, 
I am manifesting, decidedly, an insatiable greed for 
love in the form of prayer, and my prayer is answered. 


—114— 


Ethel Ernestine 

When the Children of Israel reached a certain state in 
their salvation the Lord commanded them to possess 
their goal—their promised reward. My state of entitle¬ 
ment may not be very high or very clear, and I am not 
so sure of the divine command, but I have come to mani¬ 
fest possession and there are no secrets concerning it. 
‘Are you ready?’ ” 

“Have you the proper papers in your pocket?” she 
asked, her gaze meeting his, which was like steel meet¬ 
ing steel in a pensive tete-a-tete. 

“No, but I can get them,” he affirmed, with a look 
of expectancy for an answer to his question. 

“I am ready this very minute and object to waiting 
another one. This is an ideal crowd of witnesses.” 

“You will spare me enough minutes to get a license? 
We can’t marry without it,” Paul reasoned beseech¬ 
ingly. 

“Paul, are you indulging in stratagem?” 

“Ethel, let us be serious for once. Have all the fun 
you like; still I would much prefer you would refrain 
from making a joke of my question or from belittling 
my intentions, especially in the presence of company. 
However, if that is your attitude I shall neither see it 
nor hear it. You can express nothing opposed to 
Good.” In spite of his seriousness a broader smile 
played over his countenance as the spirit of triumph 
prevailed with those present. 

“I’ll be serious enough to grant your preference by 
making it my preference. To me it is a jolly occasion; 
I know of no other sort. My anticipation of evil in 
our marriage has disappeared and an anticipation of 
genuine pleasure for both of us wins my consent. Tele¬ 
phone the clerk and the county judge to bring the 


—115— 


Ethel Ernestine 


license and fill it out here. You can’t leave me again 
until this wedding is over.” 

“I’ll see to that and have it here in an instant,” 
promised Mr. Ambrose as he occupied the seat at the 
phone to execute Ethel’s plan. 


Chapter XIX 

Mrs. Ambrose ushered the party from the bedroom to 
the office, excepting the contracting couple. They sat 
on a low princess dresser. 

“Miss Ernestine, shall I bring you some breakfast? 
You know you have not eaten much in sixty hours,” 
entreated her maid. 

“Not until this ceremony is said—I’ll eat dinner,” 
was the gleeful response. 

“Sixty hours,” repeated Paul, with a manner of 
searching inquiry for an explanation, which was a nat¬ 
ural characteristic of him. 

“She has heavenly ‘food you know not of,’ ” re¬ 
marked her teacher. 

“Ethel, I did not expect to be newly alarmed about 
your physical condition, although my discernment told 
me all the morning to come to you. When I saw you 
my peace left me and I was as much dependent as you 
were in that awful somnolency. Your teacher and the 
Ambroses demonstrated Truth; at least my mentality 
could not have kept you here. I receive the benefit- of 
their work by your staying with us.” 

“Paul, d(evil) had nothing to sustain it. God holds 
the law of good in his hands and he is the curative 
principle of every trouble, every circumstance, every 


—116— 


Ethel Ernestine 

activity, and every motion. He invites us and, in fact, 
compels us to acknowledge Him in all our ways, then 
He directs our minds. He is directing mine just now 
that we must have a Christian ceremony to follow the 
civil one. My teacher can read the latter one. May I 
have your* permission to speak to him ? ’’ 

“Certainly, give him your plan. I am enthused by 
your thought of it. The chance of one ceremony re¬ 
joices me so much I am sure I would never have 
thought of the second one, though I am willing to listen 
to as many as our friends want to say. ” 

Thanking Paul for his consent, she gave her teacher 
suggestions for the Christian service, immediately re¬ 
turning to her seat to await this happy event. 

Our fair lady was dressed in the blue messaline she 
wore when the light enveloped her. “This is a beau¬ 
tiful dress and becoming to you. I admire you in it, 
notwithstanding the unpleasant memory it brings to 
my mind of that night.” 

“You are not going to malpractise yourself to me. 
Unpleasant memories must be erased. They should not 
come up into our thoughts. Don’t worry about that 
any more. The infinitely pleasant part of the matter 
was that Go(o)d was there and did the work perfectly. 
Mr. Jones’ awakening depended on that particular time. 
We were all blessed that night. The light came for our 
good. The deep truths of being have abounded in our 
minds because of the light. I told you my burden was 
too heavy for me to sleep. The thought that came into 
my consciousness that I did not confess was that I 
would never be your wife. Its assumed name was re¬ 
sentment. Yesterday I had to see that differently before 
I could be a clear channel for your health. I was obedi¬ 
ent to the scientific sense of what I knew of God and 


—117— 


Ethel Ernestine 

man, therefore I am happy. My will is not my own; 
it belongeth to the Father who sent me. So let other 
occasions counteract that one. You must. We were 
clothed in Spirit as much then as we are now. Gro(o)d 
predominates all the time, or He is just sometimes 
mighty and sometimes not.” 

“ You were clothed in Spirit, but I am not claiming 
it for myself. I am too overwhelmed at present with 
Spirit to talk to you. No wonder I responded to your 
treatment yesterday,” he mused, as he took her hand 
into his caressingly. 

“We should not wonder at Go(o)d. It should be 
expected. If I remember correctly, you were over¬ 
whelmed that night by a healing. Were you not?” She 
wanted to leave the subject, yet she wanted him to see 
the better sense of it. 

“Indeed, I was. You are right. When Spirit says 
this ceremony all our personal difficulties will have been 
settled on my part.” 

“That’s good; they are already settled; the lie is not 
sustained by Truth,” persisted Ethel. “Paul, there is 
a multitude of ways, actions and deeds in which we 
express love besides the common statement, ‘I love you.’ 
You are an artist in your expressions. I know you re¬ 
flect divine Love and I cannot resist it. If I am so un¬ 
fortunate as to find no ways by which you can realize 
a mutual affection, after today I will resort to the famil¬ 
iar phraseology and tell you often, ‘I love you.’ ” Her 
tones were low and clear. 

“Oh! Hush—hush; you are heaping coals of fire 
upon my head,” he enjoined. 

“If the clerk does not come soon I’ll be asleep. I 
did not get my nap out.” 

As she completed this sentence Miss James came in 


—118— 


Ethel Ernestine 

with a cup of hot cocoa and a well-buttered piece of 
toast. ‘‘Mrs. Alfred told me to bring you something, 
and this was the best I could find at this hour,” ex¬ 
plained the girl apologetically. 

“I thank you and her, too, Eva. That is too good 
to refuse. If the judge were here we would hear the 
—words—first.” She began to eat as she talked. 

The officials appeared as she finished the last morsel. 
The blanks were hurriedly filled. The proprietress had 
invited them to the parlor, and also to a wedding lunch¬ 
eon to be served at one o’clock. In the next scene of 
action the bridal party withdrew to the private parlor, 
where Paul and Ethel were married. When the judge 
in his quiet dignity had performed his civil duty the 
party resumed an additional poise. The teacher stepped 
in front of the married couple and read the completion 
of the following order: 


Hymn 109 (read). 

Tenets (read). 

Rules for Motives and Acts (read). 


Bible: 

I. Cor. 7 :12-16 

II. Cor. 6:14 
I. Cor. 7:3 
Luke 20:34 : 35 
Isa. 54:5 
Hosea 2:19 


Science and Health: 
57:31-32 

58 :31-6 

59 :17-22 
60:4-8, 16-23 
6 :29-6 

65 :25-28 


Hymn 115 (read). 

The Interpretation of the Lord’s Prayer, from p. 16. 
Benediction—Jude 1:24-25. 


—119— 


Ethel Ernestine 

When the intimate group was again alone the groom 
embraced his bride and showered her face with kisses. 
“Divine Love, because it is true and everlasting, is the 
only ‘Balm of Gilead/ counteracting human mistakes,” 
philosophized Paul defensively. 

Copious congratulations from the beloved guests were 
merry and spontaneous. They were followed by a re¬ 
minder from Mrs. Alfred that “There is nothing to 
hinder the party from driving to eleven o’clock service, 
as it is fifteen or twenty minutes till that time.” 

“Ethel feels the need of sleep. Miss James and I 
will remain with her and you chaperone all who will go 
to church,” was Paul’s hospitable direction. “A good 
plan—I think I should like to see the church,” as¬ 
sented the teacher. 

“And if the luncheon is to be at one, we may stay 
out for a short drive around town, coming in about 
twelve forty-five,” joined Mr. Felix Patrick. 

“All right,” hailed the others, and they were gone. 

“It may be mental work I need to do instead of sleep¬ 
ing,” remarked the bride to her husband when they 
were in the former’s office. 

“Your teacher is working for you and there is no¬ 
body’s life hanging in the balance—-no pressing need 
for your work—and we are not required to reach total 
abstenance from food and sleep while we are in the 
flesh. Lie on the bed for a while. I will sit by you 
and help with the mental work for you this time,” per¬ 
suaded the husband as he led her to the bed. Turning 
around, he sent Miss James for some oranges, a box of 
candied dates, and a glass of milk. Calls at the phone 
and the door kept Paul busy answering them until the 
maid returned. He pared Ethel an orange while she 
drank the milk, and the three of them ate the dates for 


—120— 


Ethel Ernestine 


company. She slept about one and a half hours, woke 
naturally and ready to resume her practice. The group 
was soon to disperse. The teacher would get a train at 
four o’clock for Denver. It seemed an opportune time 
for Mrs. Alfred to accompany Mr. Felix for a two 
weeks’ sojourn. She ordered that Mr. and Mrs. Paul 
Patrick be at the mercy of her plan and live in the 
hotel until she returned to receive them. Mr. and Mrs. 
Ambrose, feeling that their mission had been fulfilled, 
could leave at six on a steamer direct to Tampa. They 
urged Mrs. Alfred and her brother to make the trip 
with them and rest in Tampa, which they did, leaving 
Paul and his wife to enjoy the ecstatic outlook of the 
new exaltation. The readers of this story may read, 
some day, its sequel, Paul Patrick. 

The concept of spirituality may be likened to the 
concept of temperature. In physical science tempera¬ 
ture is heat. Cold is not a true scientific term because 
it is negative; heat is positive and is considered much 
or little in measurements known as degrees. Physical 
scientists claim to have found a degree as low as two 
hundred seventy-three degrees below zero. From the 
established point temperature travels up the scale, so 
many degrees below, so many degrees above, freezing, 
boiling, and so on, their highest point being six hundred 
sixty degrees, th^y claim. 

In the realm of spirituality evil is not a true term 
because it is negative; good is positive and is consid¬ 
ered'by deeds or conduct. In the spiritual scale, real¬ 
izing that there is no such thing as total depravity, we 
start at the first conceivable degree, which is depravity, 
character of the lowest type, and ascend through the 
Christian translation of such as false beliefs, salvation, 
understanding, up to the ‘image and likeness’ of the 
— 121 — 


I 


Ethel Ernestine 

supreme Creator. Dear reader, what is your abiding 
point in the spiritual‘thermometer? 

“Tamper not with idle rumor, 

Lest the Truth appear to lie; 

Carve thy life to hilted silence, 

Wrong shall fall on it and die; 

Tamper not with accusation, 

Harvest not what thou hast heard; 

Christ stood in the court of Pilate, 

But He answered not a word.” 


— 122 — 














































































































































